Obesity Rates Reach Historic Highs in More States

Adult obesity rates increased in six U.S. states and fell in none last year, and in more states than ever — 20 — at least 30 percent of adults are obese, according to an analysis released on Thursday.

Obesity Rates Reach Historic Highs in More States

The conclusions were reported by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and were based on federal government data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that obesity rates ranged from 21.3 percent in Colorado to a high of 35.1 percent in Mississippi and West Virginia.

The highest prevalence of obesity was in the South (30.2 percent) and the Midwest (30.1 percent) followed by the Northeast (26.5 percent) and the West (24.9 percent), the CDC said.

The new numbers suggest the problem may be worsening despite widespread publicity about the nation’s obesity epidemic. From 2011 to 2012, by comparison, the rate of obesity increased in only one state.

The 2013 adult obesity rate exceeds 20 percent in every state, while 42 have rates above 25 percent. For the first time two states, Mississippi and West Virginia, rose above 35 percent. Adult obesity rates increased last year in Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, New Jersey, Tennessee and Wyoming.

Source: nbc news

U.S. approves Merck immune-stimulating drug for melanoma

U.S. regulators on Thursday approved the use of Merck & Co Inc’s immuno-oncology drug Keytruda, also known as pembrolizumab, as a treatment for patients with advanced melanoma who are no longer responding to other therapies.

U.S. approves Merck immune-stimulating drug for melanoma

The decision marks the first U.S. approval for a promising new class designed to help the body’s own immune system fend off cancer by blocking a protein known as Programmed Death receptor (PD-1), or a related target known as PD-L1, used by tumors to evade disease-fighting cells.

For Tom Stutz, a 74-year-old retired lawyer living in Southern California, the Merck drug has meant a new lease on life. “I was really ready to mail it in,” before entering a pembrolizumab trial in April 2012 after melanoma had spread to his lungs, liver and back, he said.

Stutz, who still receives an infusion of the drug every three weeks, said he has “gone from not being able to turn over in bed, to being able to play tennis three days a week, and ride a bike 25 miles a day.”

He said side effects amounted to some itching.

“This is not a drug that attacks the cancer directly. It enables the immune system to do the job that it is capable of doing,” said Dr. Louis Weiner, director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. “This is the first beachhead that’s been taken. It’s going to be all out assault on many different types of cancer.”

Merck and others, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche Holding AG and AstraZeneca Plc, are racing to develop PD-1 pathway drugs as treatments for a variety of cancers, including lung cancer. Some analysts expect the new class could generate more than $30 billion in annual sales worldwide by 2025.

Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, kills around 10,000 Americans each year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The FDA said clinical trials of Keytruda showed that it shrank tumors in around 24 percent of patients with advanced melanoma whose disease worsened after prior treatment.

The agency had designated the drug a “breakthrough therapy,” and approved it nearly two months ahead of an Oct. 28 decision deadline. Reuters reported exclusively last week that the approval was likely to come far earlier than the deadline [L1N0R52D3].

Keytruda is the sixth new melanoma drug approved by the FDA since 2011.

“This is a patient population with few options … We are highly encouraged by the response rate and the duration of response,” said Dr Rick Pazdur, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology in the FDA’s drug evaluation center. “The true benefit of these drugs may be in patients who do not have metastatic disease, but are at risk of recurrence.”

Merck said one of its first priorities was to see whether the drug is effective in patients with earlier-stage cancer.

Keytruda will be priced at about $12,500 per month, which “is consistent with other innovative oncology medicines,” Merck said. For patients with advanced melanoma, the median duration of treatment has been 6.2 months.

Common side effects of Keytruda seen during clinical trials included fatigue, cough, nausea, itchy skin, rash and diarrhea. Because it stimulates the immune system, Keytruda has the potential for severe immune-mediated side effects, including liver problems and colitis.

Merck is studying the drug in more than 30 different types of tumors, said Roger Perlmutter, head of research at the pharmaceutical company. Merck expects to present data from studies in lung, bladder and gastric cancers at a European medical meeting later this month.

Perlmutter said Merck’s next FDA filing for Keytruda will depend on which trials “yield the most powerful results.”

Bristol expects to complete by the end of this year a “rolling” submission for FDA approval of its drug, Opdivo, or nivolumab, for certain patients with late-stage lung cancer. The company also plans to file an FDA application by the end of this month for use of the drug, which is approved in Japan, for patients with advanced melanoma.

Source: reuters

Women may feel more anxiety at work than men, but this can help

Women have a harder time than men when it comes to dealing with “risky” work situations (think raising a point in front of tons of coworkers or stepping up for a high-pressure task), says new research presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. The study author Susan Fisk evaluated men and women’s responses to situations that could have either a positive or negative outcome based on a mixture of their skill and pure chance.

Women may feel more anxiety at work than men, but this can help

Fisk gave study subjects four scenarios presented in a risky or nonrisky way. After they decided which they would choose and explained why, how they would follow through on their decisions and the emotions that would go along with it, they took an anxiety test.

Women were more anxious when the scenarios were posed in an intimidating way, but men weren’t affected by how the situations were framed.

Fisk goes on to list a number of reasons why these results are worrisome: women may avoid high-risk situations out of fear, continually reinforce a sense of self-doubt, and have worse task performance than men in risky situations even when they’re just as competent.

While that’s all true, there are ways to avoid living out the results of this study in day-to-day life. Building self-confidence in the workplace is a completely tangible goal. Check out tips on how to be more assertive on the job, techniques that will propel your career forward, and even a few key tactics for turning career failures into triumphs.

We may be conditioned to have a harder time at work than men, but that doesn’t mean we just have to accept it.

Source: fox news

Wear sunglasses to avoid common eye disease

If your job leads to spending most of the time outdoors, do not forget to wear sunglasses as it can save you from developing a common eye disease.

Wear sunglasses to avoid common eye disease

According to a study, residential geography, time spent in the sun and whether or not sunglasses are worn may help explain why some people develop exfoliation syndrome (XFS), an eye condition that is a leading cause of secondary open-angle glaucoma and can lead to an increased risk of cataract.

“Lifetime outdoor activities may contribute to XFS so a more widespread use of UV-blocking eyewear can help prevent XFS,” said lead study author Louis Pasquale, as associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School (HMS).

Researchers conducted a clinic-based, case-control study in the US and Israel, involving XFS cases and control individuals. They measured weighted lifetime average latitude of residence and average number of hours per week spent outdoors as determined by validated questionnaires.

They found that genetic or environmental factors also contribute to XFS.
Previous studies have shown that residential (geographic) history and extent of solar exposure may be important risk factors for XFS.

The study appeared in the journal Ophthalmology.

Source: yahoo news

Lack of sleep may shrink your brain

Can a lack of sleep affect the size of your brain? It’s possible, a recent study published in an online issue of Neurology suggests.

European researchers looked at 147 adults between the ages of 20 and 84. With two MRI scans, they examined the link between sleep problems like insomnia and the study participants’ brain volume. The first scan was taken before patients completed a questionnaire pertaining to their sleep habits. The second scan was done approximately 3½ years later.

Lack of sleep may shrink your brain

The questionnaire showed that 35% of those in the study met the criteria for poor sleep health. Investigators found that those with sleep problems had a more rapid decline in brain volume or size over the course of the study than those who slept well.

The results were even more significant in participants over the age of 60.

Numerous studies have showed the importance of sleep and the effect sleep deprivation can have on our brains. It is well-known that poor sleep patterns can contribute to such brain disorders as Alzheimer’s and dementia.

So it stands to reason that, if a lack of sleep can lead to memory loss, the size of the brain would also be affected.

“We know that a lack of sleep can lead to all kinds of problems,” explained Dr. Neal Maru, a neurologist and sleep specialist with Integrated Sleep Services in Alexandria, Virginia, who is not associated with the study. “Poor sleep can affect our immune systems, our cardiovascular health, weight and, of course, memories. But we still don’t know why.

“Studies have shown poor sleep can cause protein buildup in the brain that attacks brain cells. So we’re still trying to put the puzzle together.”
The study authors agree.

“It is not yet known whether poor sleep quality is a cause or consequence of changes in brain structure,” said author Claire Sexton of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

“There are effective treatments for sleep problems, so future research needs to test whether improving people’s quality of sleep could slow the rate of brain volume loss. If that is the case, improving people’s sleep habits could be an important way to improve brain health.”

“The problem is, we really don’t know what comes first,” Maru agreed. “Is it a sleep problem that causes the atrophy (wasting away of a body part), or is it the atrophy that causes the sleep problems? That’s a question we need to sort out.”

Source: cnn news

Eating Fruit Cuts Heart-Disease Risk by 40%

An extra helping of leafy-greens is good for your heart Eating fruit every day can lower risk of heart disease by up to 40%, new research suggests.

Eating Fruit Cuts Heart-Disease Risk by 40%

A new study that looked at more than 451,680 participants over seven years asked the group to report their fruit consumption, whether it be never, monthly, 1-3 days per week, 4-6 days per week, or daily.

The researchers found that compared to people who never eat fruit, those who eat fruit every day cut their heart disease risk by 25% to 40%. Those who ate the most amount of fruit also had much lower blood pressure compared to the participants who never ate fruit.

The study is not the first to find a connection between eating fruit and having better heart health. One study of about 110,000 men and women over 14 years found that people who eat fruit and vegetables every day had a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and some studies have found that citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and grapefruits have especially protective benefits.

Next time you’re in need of a snack, grab an apple over a bag of chips. It’s surely not the last time science will say it.

Source: TIME

A death by suicide every 40 seconds, says WHO

Somebody dies by taking their own life every 40 seconds, according to a significant report by the World Health Organization (WHO). It said suicide was a “major public health problem” that was too often shrouded in taboo.

A death by suicide every 40 seconds, says WHO

The WHO wants to reduce the rate of suicide by 10% by 2020, but warned that just 28 countries have a national suicide prevention strategy. Campaigners said there needed to be more education in schools. The WHO analysed 10 years of research and data on suicide from around the world.

It concluded:

  • Around 800,000 people kill themselves every year
  • It was the second leading cause of death in young people, aged 15 to 29
  • Those over 70 were the most likely to take their own lives
  • Three-quarters of these deaths were in low and middle income countries
  • In richer countries, three times as many men as women die by suicide
  • It said limiting access to firearms and toxic chemicals was shown to reduce rates of suicide.

And that introducing a national strategy for reducing suicides was effective, yet had been developed in only a minority of countries. Dr Margaret Chan, the director general of the World Health Organization, said: “This report is a call for action to address a large public health problem, which has been shrouded in taboo for far too long.”

Social stigma attached to mental health disorders is known to stop people seeking help and can ultimately lead to suicide. The WHO also attacked the reporting of suicide in the media, such as the details revealed about the death of Hollywood actor Robin Williams.

There was also a call for countries to provide more support for people who had previously made a suicide attempt as they were the most at-risk group. Dr Alexandra Fleischmann, a scientist in the department of mental health and substance abuse at WHO, said: “No matter where a country currently stands in suicide prevention, effective measures can be taken, even just starting at local level and on a small-scale.”

Jonny Benjamin, a suicide campaigner in the UK, told the BBC: “I think there needs to be much more public awareness around suicide and how to approach people that may be experiencing suicidal thoughts and feelings, too few of us know how to react when they see someone who may be at risk of taking their life or experiencing those thoughts and feelings.

“I think there needs to be much more public awareness, much more education in schools as well because, as statistics today have shown young people are especially at risk of taking their own lives.”

Source: bbc news

Childhood obesity may cause asthma

It is more probable that childhood obesity contributes to asthma rather than the other way round, says a study.

Childhood obesity may cause asthma

For years, doctors have known that there is a link between childhood obesity and asthma, but have found it difficult to determine which condition tends to come first, or whether one causes the other.

“The relationship between obesity and asthma in adults, which shows that being overweight and obese can precede the onset of asthma, is supported by a number of studies,” said lead author of the study Perdita Permaul from Massachusetts General Hospital in the US.

“There is not as much evidence for children, but the progression from obesity to asthma, rather than the other way around, seems probable,” Permaul added.

Citing a study that showed that rapid growth in body mass index (BMI) during the first two years of life increased the risk of asthma up to six years of age, the team shows that the onset and duration of obesity and the composition of the excess fat can affect lung function.

“Most kids who suffer from asthma also have allergies,” said Michael Foggs, president, American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

“These allergic responses in the lung can lead to symptoms of allergy,” Foggs added.

The study appeared in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Source: times of india

US to provide USD 75 mn to expand Ebola care centers

The American aid agency has announced it would donate USD 75 million to fund 1,000 more beds in Ebola treatment centers in Liberia and buy 130,000 more protective suits for health care workers.

US to provide USD 75 mn to expand Ebola care centers

West Africa’s struggling health systems have buckled under the pressure of an Ebola outbreak that has already killed about 1,900 people. Nurses in Liberia are wearing rags over their heads to protect themselves from the dreaded disease, amid concerns that shortages of protective gear throughout the region are responsible for the high Ebola death toll among health workers.

The US Agency for International Development also urged American health care workers to respond to the outbreak. Rajiv Shah, the agency’s administrator, told The Associated Press that several hundred more international experts are needed and the agency will help send Americans health care workers there.

“This will get worse before it gets better,” he said. “We have a coherent and clear strategy … But it will take weeks to months to get operational at that scale.”

The USD 75 million comes in addition to about USD 20 million the agency has already donated to fight the outbreak that was first identified in March in Guinea, and has spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The killer virus is spread through bodily fluids such as blood, sweat, urine or diarrhea.

Health workers account for about 10 per cent of the deaths so far. Much of the protective gear they use must be destroyed after use, so Ebola wards need a constant flow of clean equipment.

One nurse at a hospital in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, said she and her colleagues have resorted to cutting up their old uniforms and trying them over their faces to protect themselves, looking out through holes in the fabric. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to talk to the media.

“It is really pathetic,” she said. “We are not equipped to face the situation.”

With no goggles to protect them, their eyes burn from the fumes of chlorine used to disinfect the ward, the nurse said.

David and Nancy Writebol, American missionaries who worked at another hospital in Liberia, echoed those concerns, speaking to the AP in North Carolina. They said doctors and nurses are overwhelmed by a surge of patients and there aren’t enough hazard suits to keep them safe.

Source: business standard

Women at greater stroke risk from resistant hyper-tension

Resistant hypertension increases the risk of stroke by 35 per cent in women and 20 per cent in elderly patients, according to new research.

The findings presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Barcelona by Dr Kuo-Yang Wang from Taiwan suggest that gender and age should be added to the risk stratification of resistant hypertension to enable more appropriate treatment decisions.

“Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Patients with hypertension that do not respond to conventional drug treatments, called resistant hypertension, are at even higher risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality,” Wang said.

“Little is known about the prognosis of resistant hypertension in the Asian population. Our study compared the risk of all-cause mortality, acute coronary syndrome, and stroke between patients with resistant hypertension and non-resistant hypertension.

“We aimed to discover the impact of resistant hypertension on Taiwanese patients, and to ascertain whether patient characteristics influence the association between resistant hypertension and adverse outcomes,” said Wang.

Patients with hypertension aged 45 years and older were identified from the National Health Insurance Research Database. Medical records of 111,986 patients from 2000 to 2011 were reviewed for this study.

Women at greater stroke risk from resistant hyper-tension

Some 16,402 (14.6 per cent) patients had resistant hypertension. The risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE; a composite of all-cause mortality, acute coronary syndrome, and stroke) in patients with resistant hypertension and non-resistant hypertension was analysed.

The researchers found that 11,856 patients experienced MACE in the average 7.1 year follow up period. Patients with resistant hypertension had a 17 per cent increased risk of MACE compared to those with non-resistant hypertension.

When the researchers analysed the risk of different types of cardiovascular events separately they found that compared to patients with non-resistant hypertension, patients with resistant hypertension had a 17 per cent increased risk of stroke and a 34 per cent increased risk of ischaemic stroke but no increased risk of all-cause mortality or acute coronary syndrome.

“Our study shows that patients with resistant hypertension have higher risks for cardiovascular events than those with non-resistant hypertension. The elevated risks mainly contribute to increasing stroke events, especially ischaemic stroke,” Wang said.

Subgroup analysis showed that resistant hypertension increased the risks of stroke in females by 35 per cent and in elderly patients by 20 per cent. However, no significant influence was noted in young or male patients

Source: Business line