Attention, Kmart shoppers!
BETHESDA
,
MD
- Here's a wake-up call: heart disease kills far more women yearly than cancer. It's true that preventing heart problems is getting easier. Here are some ways - backed by solid research - to care for your heart. Get milk - a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded study found among people who didn't eat much saturated fat, those who consumed more than three daily servings of milk, yogurt, or cheese had systolic blood pressure almost four points under those who ate only half a serving daily. New moves - 30 minutes of tai chi, a gentle Chinese martial art that includes slow, relaxing movements, may lower blood pressure. Go fishing - How fast your heart beats when you're at rest can indicate heart attack risk. Higher resting heart rates have been linked to higher risk of sudden death. The good news is eating fish can lower your heart rate. Sip juice - Pomegranate juice seems to delay hardening of the arteries. Laugh it up - People who watched comedy films had better blood flow versus viewers of Saving Private Ryan, found a University of Maryland School of Medicine study.
WASHINGTON
- Monday Morning in Washington, DC noted the U.S. Supreme Court held that under IDEA Jeff and Sandee Winkleman have the right as parents to use the federal courts to enforce special education rights without having to hire a lawyer. The High Court said clear statutory scheme behind IDEA intended parents be free to proceed to federal court on their own when they feel their child's right to a free appropriate public education is being violated. Justice Kennedy’s opinion supporting the Winkleman's rights was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Stevens, Breyer, Souter, Ginsberg, and Alito. Justices Scalia and Thomas agreed the Winklemans should be able to go to federal court on their own to seek reimbursement for private school costs but didn’t agree parents should be able to go to court on their own in all instances. The opinion is at www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/05-983.ZO.html.
LOS ANGELES - Without U.S. and state reform on universal coverage, local coalitions can make a big difference for kids without health insurance, states University of Southern California (
USC
) scientists in the American Journal of Public Health. A study of 28
California
counties/regions with Healthy Kids coalitions found the efforts linked 85,000 kids with insurance. Coalition leaders attributed success to a diverse group of stakeholders, strong leadership, and generous local and statewide contributors. Such coalitions are “cautiously looking toward statewide legislative solutions,” study authors wrote. "Until recently, assuring all children have health insurance had escaped federal and state attention, but many counties in California were unwilling to endure this inaction and took responsibility for covering children themselves,” said lead author Dr. Gregory Stevens, assistant professor of research in the Dept. of Family Medicine at
USC
’s Keck School of Medicine. “Such entrepreneurship is often seen at the state level, but
California
counties are setting a precedent for leading the way on health issues." Local coalitions may become the gold standard as other states struggle with declines in employer-based coverage and increasing immigration and poverty rates.
WASHINGTON
- Monday Morning in Washington, DC noted www.DisabilityInfo.gov reported 13 states and the
District of Columbia
will get more than $547 million in grants over five years to build Medicaid long-term care programs that will help keep people at home and out of institutions. This data is at www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=138.
ITHACA
,
NY
- Monday Morning in Washington, DC noted the Cornell University StatsRRTC released several disability products: Transcripts, Power Point slides, and audio from the State-of-the-Science Conference are available at www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/p-srrtc-2006conference.cfm. Surveying Persons with Disabilities: A Source Guide is an annotated bibliography of studies on survey methods. It’s at digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/1222. Also, www.DisabilityStatistics.org has prevalence and employment statistics by state, race, education, age, gender, and disability type. For more data on disability statistics and StatsRRTC products and publications, e-mail DisabilityStatistics@cornell.edu, or call
(607)
255-1540
, Dr. Andrew J. Houtenville, senior research associate.
SAN
FRANCISCO
- The
American
Academy
of Ophthalmology (AAO) warns patients taking certain drugs that treat prostate enlargement to inform their eye surgeon about these medications before undergoing surgery. These drugs can complicate cataract surgery. A 2006 study found these patients can have successful surgery if their surgeon knows they’re taking or took these drugs and alters the surgical technique. Flomax® is the most common drug for prostate enlargement, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). By facilitating more complete emptying of the bladder, Flomax cuts the need to urinate in the middle of the night. Flomax and similar systemic drugs called alpha-blockers can cause difficulty during cataract surgery, particularly if the eye surgeon hasn’t been warned. For this reason, AAO advises patients who are taking or have taken alpha-blocker prostate drugs to inform their ophthalmologist before surgery. Other alpha-blocker drugs include Hytrin®, Cardura®, and Uroxatral®.
SAN
DIEGO
- MedPage Today disclosed a highly sensitive blood test for ovarian cancer based on six biomarkers could be used to detect the disease while it is still in its curable early stages, researchers said. The test takes advantage of six proteins tied to ovarian cancer and a multiplex assay to measure them simultaneously, said Dr. Aliza Leiser, of
Yale
University
. In a group of more than 500 volunteers, the test had a sensitivity of 97.5% and a specificity of 99.7%, she stated at a meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists. That accuracy yielded a positive predictive value of 99.3% in the test population. In the general population, where ovarian cancer hits one in 2,500, the test would have a positive predictive value of 12.6% - high enough to make it an "acceptable" screening test, Dr. Leiser said. She noted ovarian cancer has a five-year survival rate of 90% for stage I and II; stage
III
and IV has a five-year survival rate of 20%. Because of that, she said, "development of a sensitive and specific method of early detection is a priority."
ROCHESTER
,
MN
- HealthDay News noted those with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, a
U.S.
study suggests. People with OSA experience multiple breathing interruptions while asleep. Tissue in back of the throat collapses and blocks the airway. Authors of the study in the journal Sleep said, "There is abundant physiologic evidence implicating [OSA] in perpetuating, if not inciting, heart failure." Co-author Dr. Sean M. Caples, of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, stated, "In addition to their association with systemic hypertension, [OSA]-related stressors ... have varying effects on myocardial [heart] oxygen supply and demand, particularly in the already compromised heart." Treating sleep disorders and getting adequate sleep are important to good cardiovascular health, noted Dr. Lawrence Epstein, past president of the
American
Academy
of Sleep Medicine, medical director of Sleep Health Centers and an instructor of medicine at
Harvard
Medical
School
. "Sleep apnea is a known risk factor for hypertension, heart disease, and stroke," he stated.
ORLANDO
- MedPage Today noted men who start the day often with a bowl of whole grain cereal are less likely to have heart failure than men who never ate whole grain cereals, scientists said. The tie between such cereals and heart failure seems to be dose dependent, said Dr. Luc Djoussé, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and
Harvard
Medical
School
in
Boston
, and colleagues. They found a 26% cut in incident heart failure in men who ate such cereals at least seven times a week, but even a single bowl of such cereal once a week cut the relative risk of heart failure 14%. Men who ate two to six bowls of whole grain cereals - cereals with 25% oat or bran - were about 22% less likely to develop heart failure than men who never consumed such cereals, they reported at the American Heart Association's Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention. After correcting for age, body mass index, smoking history, alcohol consumption, vegetable consumption, physical activity, history of atrial fibrillation, and valvular heart disease, the relative risks for heart failure were 0.90 for up to one serving of whole grain cereal per week, 0.79 for
two to six
servings, and 0.74 for seven or more servings per week. The finding came from data collected from 21,410 participants in the Physicians' Health Study done 1982-2006. At baseline the average age of participants was 53.7 years.
WASHNINGHTON - Reuters Health noted 50%-plus of
U.S.
women go without enough sleep. Stay-at-home mothers suffer most, which stops them eating healthily, spending time with friends, or having sex. Nearly 70% of them say they frequently have sleep woes, with most stressed or anxious. Only 60% get a good night's sleep a few nights a week, a poll by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) found. While 72% of working mothers and 68% of single working women are more likely to suffer insomnia, the poll found 74% of stay-at-home mothers suffered insomnia at least a few nights a week and 59% said they woke up not feeling refreshed. "American women struggle to cope with this lack of sleep," NSF’s Kathryn Lee said. "Women's lack of sleep affects virtually every aspect of their time-pressed lives, leaving them late for work, stressed out, too tired for sex, and little time for friends." The survey found that when pressed, 52% of women responded sleep and exercise (48%) were the first things sacrificed. When women were tired or ran out of time, 39% also reduced time with friends and family, 37% stopped eating healthily, and 33% stopped having sex with their partner. Work is the last thing women say they sacrifice when pressed for time.
