Health News

Light drinking ‘is preterm risk’

Even moderate drinking during the earliest months of pregnancy may be damaging, say researchers in Leeds. Their study is the latest in a long debate over whether it is safe to drink at all during pregnancy.

The findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, suggest the chances of premature birth increased. The NHS recommends people avoid alcohol during pregnancy or when trying to conceive.

But says if people choose to drink, then they should not have more than two units of alcohol (about one pint) twice a week.

Heavy drinking in pregnancy is known to be damaging as it can affect the baby’s development. But there is far more debate about drinking at the upper limit of the NHS guidelines.

Around seven in every 100 births in the UK is premature. The study on 1,264 women in Leeds showed drinking more than the two units limit doubled the risk of premature birth, but even drinking at the limit increased the risk.

Camilla Nykjaer, one of the researchers at the University of Leeds. “This is a very sensitive issue, we don’t want women who are pregnant now to panic, the individual risk is actually low.

“They shouldn’t drink, they should stop drinking if they have been drinking during the pregnancy.”

However, a study of more than 11,000 five-year-olds, conducted by University College London, showed drinking one or two units of alcohol a week during pregnancy did not raise the risk of developmental problems in the child.

Prof Yvonne Kelly who conducted that research told the BBC: “Heavy drinking is really very, very bad, but at low levels, in the work we’ve done we haven’t found any negative effects in childhood.

“It’s a massively charged area, getting the tone of this right is quite difficult.

“The guidelines are there, women are sentient beings and can choose – it’s hugely politically charged all of this, I guess people will make their own judgements.”

Dr Patrick O’Brien, a spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “While the safest approach would be to choose not to drink at all, small amounts of alcohol, not more than one to two units once or twice a week, have not been shown to be harmful after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

“Pregnant women should always consult their midwives or doctors if they have any concerns about their alcohol intake.”

Source: BBC news

WHO-proposed sugar recommendation comes to less than a soda per day

The World Health Organization wants you to stop eating so much sugar. Seriously. In draft guidelines proposed this week, WHO is encouraging people to consume less than 5% of their total daily calories from sugars. The organization’s current guidelines, published in 2002, recommend eating less than 10% of your total daily calories from sugars.

Most Americans still consume much more. Our sweet tooth increased 39% between 1950 and 2000, according to the USDA. The average American now consumes about three pounds of sugar each week. “There is increasing concern that consumption of free sugars, particularly in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages, may result in … an increase in total caloric intake, leading to an unhealthy diet, weight gain and increased risk of noncommunicable diseases,” WHO said in a statement.

Of particular concern, WHO said, is the role sugar plays in causing dental diseases worldwide. For an adult at a normal body mass index, or BMI, eating 5% would be around 25 grams of sugar — or six teaspoons. That’s less than is typically found in a single can of regular soda, which contains about 40 grams of sugar.

To find the amount of calories from sugar in a product, multiply the grams by 4. For example, a product containing 15 grams of sugar has 60 calories from sugar per serving, according to the American Heart Association. If you eat 2,000 calories a day, that’s 3%.

WHO’s proposed guidelines apply to sugars added to foods by manufacturers, as well as those found naturally in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates. They do not apply to those found in fresh produce.

“Much of the sugars consumed today are ‘hidden’ in processed foods that are not usually seen as sweets,” the WHO website states.

Did you know sugar is often added to your frozen pizza? How about your bread, soup, yogurt and mayonnaise? As consumers became more concerned about the amount of fat in their food, manufacturers went out of their way to make low-fat items — often substituting sugar to preserve the taste.

Choosing foods with fewer added sugars at the grocery story may soon get a little easier. The Food and Drug Administration has proposed several changes to the nutrition labels you see on packaged foods and beverages.

The proposed labels would also note how much added sugar is in a product. Right now, it’s hard to know what is naturally occurring sugar and what has been added by the manufacturer.

The WHO guidelines will be open for public comment until March 31. Then WHO will finalize and publish its recommendations.

Source: CNN news

Malnutrition On the Rise for Children in the North

Some 100,000 children, including Nigerian refugees fleeing attacks from the extremist sect Boko Haram, are suffering from acute malnutrition in northern Cameroon. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Health officials and United Nations agencies have been visiting the children and are promising assistance.

Badyne Mansto cries as her five-year-old child is buried near her house in Maroua, northern Cameroon. She told VOA the child lost weight and died at a private hospital two hours after she was admitted. She blamed the staff for not attending to her immediately when she arrived.

Hospital staff say they are overwhelmed. Mamha Catherine is one of them.

“As you can see, there are so many patients than we can attend to. We lack infrastructure, we lack staff, so what is certain is that some of the children whose lives may have been saved will end up dying,” she said.

Dire situation

Aiida Maimonatou, who is at the hospital with her baby, is getting impatient. She said when her first child was not well, she took him to a traditional healer and he died. Now she has brought her second child to the hospital because the government is asking people not to go for traditional treatment. But, she says, “since I came here, nobody has attended to me.”

Among the malnourished children are Nigerian refugees fleeing from the Islamist militant sect Boko Haram. At their camp in Menowo in Mayo Tsanaga Division where 7,000 refugees live, more than 300 children are suffering.

Comfort Manda, who said she fled Borno State, said she has lost a child to malnutrition.

“My brother, it is very difficult. I don’t know what to tell you, but the situation that I met here is so deplorable that I don’t know what to do now,” said Manda. “I came in from Nigeria and my two children are sick, I have taken them to the hospital and find it difficult to provide their medicine. One of them already died and I am still struggling with one of them. I do not know what will happen at the end. Added to this, there is no food, there is no water and when children are sick they drink a lot of water. We are not able to have even water to give our children. It is very difficult.”

Dr. Ndansi Elvis said the crisis is aggravated because refugees have to compete with the local population for food and water.

“These people come and there is competition for food. And when there is competition for food, there is also limited supply and the prices go up. And there is the problem of early marriages. You will not expect that a 17-year-old who has a child actually understands the nutritional needs of a child as much as a mature woman,” said Elvis.

“It’s astonishing that this is a public health problem but little attention is given to it. I go through the budget of the Ministry of Public Health for this year and I don’t think that even up to 500 million CFA franc [$1 million] has been allocated for any program as far as malnutrition is concerned,” Elvis continued.

Jean Mark Eding of Doctors Without Borders said a number of factors are contributing to the increasing number of malnourished children this year.

“The first thing is the absence or insufficient food for the children,” he said. “There are also environmental factors, like droughts, floods, dykes that give way, insects that destroy crops and reduce food production.”

UNICEF says large sectors of Cameroon’s population lack access to basic health services, safe water, sanitation facilities and basic education. The agency is appealing for funds to prevent and combat malnutrition. Its officials and other United Nations agencies have been visiting the malnourished children and promising to help as soon as they get the funds.

Source: All Africa

Traffic pollution may alter structure of the heart; promote heart failure

Traffic air pollution has been linked to poor health in the past – with wheezing, coughing, and watery eyes just the tip of the iceberg. Later studies have also established a relationship between pollution and a host of heart problems, including left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure, among others. However, a new study, from the University of Washington’s Medical Center in Seattle, has now found that air pollution emitted from traffic sources also changes the structure of the heart’s right ventricle – further increasing the risk of heart failure for residents’ of pollution-dense areas.

“Although the link between traffic-related air pollution and left ventricular hypertrophy, heart failure, and cardiovascular death is established, the effects of traffic-related air pollution on the right ventricle have not been well studied,” said the study’s lead author Peter Leary, MD, MS, of the UW Medical Center in a press release. “Using exposure to nitrogen dioxide as a surrogate for exposure to traffic-related air pollution, we were able to demonstrate for the first time that higher levels of exposure were associated with greater right ventricular mass and larger right ventricular end-diastolic volume. Greater right ventricular mass is also associated with increased risk for heart failure and cardiovascular death.”

The study observed the health patterns of 3,896 individuals who participated in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, each of whom had no prior history of cardiac disruption or disease. All of the test subjects had previously undertaken magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, with authors observing their levels of exposure to pollutant nitrogen oxide in the year leading up to the scan.

On average, the study found that a higher incidence of exposure to nitrogen oxide coincided with a five percent increase (around one gram) in right ventricular mass and a three percent increase (4.1 mL) in right ventricular end-diastolic volume. The researchers combed through a range of differentiating factors that could have skewed the data before confirming their findings, including variations in lung disease, socioeconomic standing, inflammation, and left ventricular mass and volume.

“The morphologic changes in the right ventricle of the heart that we found with increased exposure to nitrogen dioxide add to the body of evidence supporting a connection between traffic-related air pollution and cardiovascular disease,” said Leary. “The many adverse effects of air pollution on human health support continued efforts to reduce this burden.”

It should be noted, however, that while increased exposure to nitrogen oxide led to a notable change in the heart’s structure, the findings have not definitively been linked to traffic air pollution. However, the researchers are confident that these recent findings are aligned with previous studies on the matter, and serve to strengthen beliefs that traffic air pollution is detrimental to cardiovascular health.

The study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Source: Tech Times

Drug company refuses to give lifesaving medication to 7-year-old boy

Seven-year-old Josh Hardy has survived four bouts of kidney cancer, heart failure and a bone marrow transplant. But now, he is fighting for his life once again, after a drug company denied him access to a medication that could cure him of a potentially deadly virus.

In an attempt to save her son’s life, Josh’s mother, Aimee Hardy, has launched a grassroots campaign to encourage drug manufacturer Chimerix to allow her son to have the medication he so desperately needs.

“I want to be by his bedside, holding his hand, telling him, ‘It’s going to be okay,’ but because of this unwillingness to release this drug, I have to leave him and come talk to you and it infuriates me,” Hardy, from Fredericksburg, Va., told Peter Johnson Jr. on Fox and Friends.

Josh had been cancer-free for two years when a bone scan in November 2013 revealed he had developed a bone marrow disorder as a result of his earlier cancer treatments. In January 2014, he underwent chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., but he subsequently developed adenovirus – an acute infection that can be deadly in people with compromised immune systems.

“Normally, Josh’s immune system would be able to handle the adenovirus if his immune system was set free,” Hardy wrote on her son’s CaringBridge.org page. “The challenge is his immune system can’t be set free yet because his body is still trying to adapt to the new bone marrow cells. So to keep the body from killing the new cells, they have to suppress the immune system, thus creating ideal conditions for adenovirus to advance. Catch 22.”

Doctors at St. Jude recommended Josh be treated with Brincidofovir – an antiviral drug that has been proven to clear up adenovirus in children within two weeks. However, Brincidofovir has not yet been approved by the FDA, so Josh hasn’t been able to gain access to the medication.

Chimerix, the company that manufactures Brincidofovir, has given hundreds of patients emergency access to the medication in the past, but they have since stopped this practice saying ‘they cannot afford it,’ according to Johnson Jr. However, Chimerix has received more than $72 million in federal funding to develop Brincidofovir.

“As we progressed to larger and more complex safety trials, we made the decision two years ago to stop the program and focus resources on earning FDA approval,” said Kenneth Moch, the CEO of Chimerix.

As Josh’s health continues to worsen, the Hardy family has launched a campaign to convince the company to allow Josh to receive the drug through a ‘compassionate use’ program – in which a drug company can allow a seriously ill patient to receive access to an unapproved drug.

“I feel that it’s just an excuse and we need them to totally change their stance, not only for us but for hundreds or even thousands of people that need [this drug],” Hardy told Fox and Friends. “…To me, [it’s] almost a crime to not make it available to everyone who needs it.”

Moch said his company has received hundreds of phone calls and emails in support of Josh. A Twitter campaign utilizing the hashtag #savejosh has also been launched to support Josh’s cause.

However, when Johnson Jr. asked Moch off camera if a visit to Josh’s bedside might help change his mind, Moch said it would not – much to the distress of Josh’s mother.

“He would see a frail little boy who has a very weak voice and has a hard time staying awake, because he’s in so much pain and to combat the pain he has to be on a lot of pain medication, so he’s drowsy,” Hardy said. “It’s horrible for us as parents to see, because he’s a vibrant, strong little boy, and even though he is frail, he has a very strong will about him. But things just keep stacking against him, and we just want to do everything we can to give him the opportunity to make a full recovery.”

To help save Josh, Hardy is encouraging supporters to call Chimerix at 919-806-1074; supporters can also e-mail compassionateuserequest@chimerix.com

SourcE: fox news

Skin cancer may up risk of other cancers

People who have had common skin cancers may be at an increased risk of developing melanoma and 29 other cancer types, a new study has warned. Individuals who had nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) were at increased risk for subsequently developing other cancer types, and this association was much higher for those under 25 years of age, researchers said.

NMSC is the most common type of skin cancer. It is relatively easy to treat if detected early, and rarely spreads to other organs, they said. “Our study shows that NMSC susceptibility is an important indicator of susceptibility to malignant tumours and that the risk is especially high among people who develop NMSC at a young age,” said Rodney Sinclair, professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

“The risk increases for a large group of seemingly unrelated cancers; however, the greatest risk relates to other cancers induced by sunlight, such as melanoma,” said Sinclair. Compared with people who did not have NMSC, those who did were 1.36 times more likely to subsequently develop any cancer, including melanoma and salivary gland, bone, and upper gastrointestinal cancers.

Survivors younger than 25 years of age, however, were 23 times more likely to develop any cancer other than NMSC. In particular, they were 94 and 93 times more likely to get melanoma and salivary gland cancer, respectively. “Our study identifies people who receive a diagnosis of NMSC at a young age as being at increased risk for cancer and, therefore, as a group who could benefit from screening for internal malignancy,” said Sinclair.

Researchers hypothesised that people who develop skin cancers later in life do so as a result of accumulated Sun exposure, while those who develop skin cancer at a younger age may do so as a result of an increased susceptibility to cancer in general. To investigate this, they stratified the risk ratios by age and discovered that young people with NMSC are more cancer-prone.

The researchers constructed two cohorts: one of 502,490 people with a history of NMSC, and a cohort of 8,787,513 people who served as controls. They followed up with the participants electronically for five to six years, and 67,148 from the NMSC cohort and 863,441 from the control group subsequently developed cancers.

They found that for those who had NMSC, the relative risk for developing cancers of the bladder, brain, breast, colon, liver, lung, pancreas, prostate, and stomach remained consistently elevated for the entire period of the study, and the risk for cancers of the brain, colon, and prostate increased with time.

The study was published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Bio-markers & Prevention.

Source: Indian Express

New York City Investigates Measles Outbreak

New York City health officials said Friday they are investigating an outbreak of measles that’s made at least 16 people sick.

It might be part of a bigger national outbreak linked to the Philippines.

Health officials are quick to declare concern when they see someone with measles, which is one of the most contagious human diseases. Although it was once seen as a normal childhood infection, it’s easily prevented with a vaccine. And it should be, because fully a third of patients develop complications from the virus, including pneumonia, miscarriage and brain inflammation that can put patients into the hospital or even kill them.

About 90 percent of unvaccinated people will get infected if they’re exposed to it.

New York health officials say four infected children were too young to have been vaccinated and that parents had opted not to have two others vaccinated.

Measles was considered eradicated in the U.S. in 2000, but the nation has seen a recent uptick in cases caused by unvaccinated travelers who become infected abroad. Last year, at least 175 cases of measles were reported in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

California has also been reporting an outbreak. As of last month, California health officials have counted 15 cases of measles in six counties.

They declared an alert when an infected college student used the San Francisco area public transit system, and he was later shown to have infected two male relatives.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Most people in the U.S. are either naturally immune to measles from having been infected or have been vaccinated against it.

The CDC said earlier this week they had tracked 54 cases of measles in the U.S. so far this year, including a dozen in people who had recently traveled to the Philippines.

Source: NBC news

Cosmetic fillers can cause blindness when injected into the forehead

Injecting fillers into the forehead to remove wrinkles could lead to permanent blindness, according to a new report.

Scientists said that injecting fillers around the eye area for facial rejuvenation could cause irreversible damage.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of fat, collagen and other special cosmetic products, but only if they are injected in the middle parts of the face – such as around the mouth
But doctors often use the substances as “off-label” to smooth out wrinkles around the eye and on the forehead, said study author Dr Michelle Carle, an ophthalmologist at Retina Vitreous Associates Medical Group in Los Angeles.

The fillers can then accidentally get into small blood vessels on the face, and find their way into the eye’s artery and block its blood supply, Dr Carle told Live Science.

“While this complication is very rare, it is very significant. A bruise will go away, but vision loss is permanent,” she said.

Dr Carle and her colleagues treated three patients who permanently lost their vision in one or both eyes after undergoing cosmetic procedures, according to the report published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.

One woman in her mid-40s lost the sight in her right eye after she received an injection of bovine collagen and a dermal filler product called Artefill to remove her forehead creases, the researchers said.

Another patient, a man in his 30s, lost some vision in his left eye following an injection of a gel called hyaluronic acid. The blood supply to parts of his retina had been blocked, according to the report.

And a woman in her 60s experienced severe loss of vision after receiving fat injections around her hairline, the researchers said.

Any injection done in the eye area poses a risk of material entering the intricate web of arteries and blood vessels surrounding the eye. The visual effects of a blockage are devastating and irreversible in otherwise healthy patients, the researchers said.

Complications from these cosmetic procedures are rare, but cases of blindness, stroke and even death have been previously reported, according to the report.

“We recommend that blindness or significant visual loss be added as a risk when discussing these procedures with patients, because these are devastating consequences,” the researchers said.

Source: The Independent

Young skin cancer survivors at higher risk of different cancers in the future

Young skin cancer survivors may not be completely in the clear, a recent study shows, with higher incidence of further cancers – including melanoma – developing in the future.

The findings of a newly-published large study mar successful remission of skin cancer survivors, as nonmelanoma survivors were found to be 1.36 times more likely to develop melanoma later in life. For patients under 25, the risk was boosted to 23 times more likely, but just 3.5 higher for survivors aged 25 to 44. The patients who developed nonmelanoma cancers prior to the of 25 bear the heaviest brunt, being 53 times more likely to develop bone cancer, a 26 times higher chance of developing blood cancers, and 20 times more likely to develop brain cancer. They are also faced with a higher risk of contracting any other type of cancer – around 14 times as likely – including breast, colon, liver, prostate, and stomach.

The study was completed by researchers at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and the University of Oxford, England. Observing 502,490 people who had previously had nonmelanoma cancers, as well as 8,787,513 people with no history of skin cancer, the study found that more than 13 percent of people in the first group went on to develop another cancer. In the second group, the number was around nine percent. However, researchers cautioned that the study considered both basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) together, without differentiating the two – thus unable to determine the precise chance of developing cancer in the future based on the type of cancer patients had in the past. “It might be that one type of NMSC [non-melanoma skin cancer] is more strongly associated with increased risks of subsequent primaries; however, only subtle differences have been noted in studies that do differentiate SCCs and BCCs,” the study read.

Nevertheless, the researchers recommended early screening as the best course of action. “Early detection of cancers through screening of asymptomatic people works best when screening can be targeted at those at greatest risk,” said study author Dr. Rodney Sinclair, M.B.B.S., M.D., the director of dermatology at the Epworth Hospital and professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne. “Our study identifies people who receive a diagnosis of NMSC [non-melanoma skin cancer] at a young age as being at increased risk for cancer and, therefore, as a group who could benefit from screening for internal malignancy.”

Source; Tech Times

Women’s Day 2014: Quick health tips for working women

It is rightly said that behind the success of every man, there is a woman. Gone are the days when a woman was just confined to the home and kitchen. So, if you are working, dear lady, you need to take care of your health too in order to take care of your family. Juggling long working hours and family life, one rarely finds time for themselves. But, complaining is not the solution. It is crucial to maintain a balance between your personal and professional life.

This Women’s Day, we bring to you some quick and easy tips to keep you healthy and rejuvenated.

Try staying active throughout the day like when you are in office, avoid sitting for long hours and instead take a walk in between, or do some desk exercises such as stretching on the chair, twisting etc. in order to relieve stress and exhaustion.

-Enforcing a healthy lifestyle and good eating habits is another major area that you need to take care of. Never try to fill your stomach with junk food when hungry, rather try to snack healthy like having fruits, juices, nuts etc.

-Try drinking a lot of water say at least 7-8 glasses daily as it helps the body to function properly and also prevents dehydration.

-Hangout with friends and try to be happy and leave aside your worries. When you are happy your body releases good hormones called `endorphin` which help in combating stress.

-After weeks of hectic work schedules, you surely deserve a pamper session. So, take time out and go to for a relaxing spa session and manicure, pedicure, facial sittings once a month. Also, do what it takes to give yourself a little `you` time everyday.

So go on ladies make the most of these tips and stay healthy.

Source: Zee news