Return to Health Care

return to Main Menu

Briefly 8-19

Not a good equality

            ST. PAUL , MN - Men and women with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) equally transmit the genetic risk of MS to their children, states a study online qt the journal Neurology. The research contradicts a recent study which found affected fathers were more likely than affected mothers to transmit the risk of MS to their children. Scientists studied 3,088 Canadian families with one parent affected with MS. Of the 8,401 children in those families, 798 had MS. The study found equal transmission of the genetic risk of MS to children with 9.41% of fathers transmitting MS to their children versus 9.76% of mothers. "We also found there were equal numbers of daughters and sons receiving the genetic risk of MS from their parents," said study author Dr. George Ebers, Action Research Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford . "Intriguingly, we also found when half siblings both have MS, there is a clear maternal effect with mothers much more likely to be the common parent." The study was supported by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada Scientific Research Foundation.

            OSLO , NORWAY   - Child and teen type 1 diabetics who spend many hours on TV are likely to have poor control of blood glucose levels, note findings disclosed to Reuters Health. "Patients with type 1 diabetes are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) than the general population, and long-term blood glucose control is a strong predictor for CVD in type 1 diabetes," Dr. Hanna Margeirsdottir, of Ullevaal University Hospital , and her team explain in Diabetes Care. "To our knowledge," they say, "no studies have reported the influence of TV on blood glucose control or CVD risk in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes." Scientists studied 538 children and adolescents, average age 13, from eastern Norway with type 1 diabetes for five years. The time spent on TV and using a computer was obtained in interviews with the subjects or parents of young children. Scientists found that as the average number of hours spent on TV rose, so did the participants' A1C level, body mass index, and the total of insulin needed on a daily basis. "TV viewing has been found to be tied to snacking, and participants who spend more time watching TV tend to follow an unhealthy eating pattern," the team states.

            `RED BANK, NJ -  HealthDay News noted baby boomer women have hysterectomies at nearly the same rate as 25 years ago, despite less drastic alternatives. In 2005, more than 181,000 U.S. hysterectomies were on baby boomers with two common uterine problems: fibroid tumors and heavy bleeding. Both can often be treated with newer, less-invasive approaches, states a report funded by the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC). It claims the report is a first-of-its kind study on the prevalence of pelvic health disorders among U.S. women. Women born 1946-1964 are in the group where other pelvic disorders, such as stress urinary incontinence and pelvic prolapse, are common. Both may be under-diagnosed significantly in U.S. women. NWHRC funded the report because there "are so many new treatment options available," said Elizabeth Battaglino Cahill, executive vice president. "What we're finding is so many women don't know " those options.

            WASHINGTON - Monday Morning in Washington, D.C. noted the National Respite Conference will be held Oct. 3-5 in Huntsville , AL. Registration (www.archrespite.org/2007_Conf_Brochure.pdf) is $150 if in by Sept. 21. Hotel reservations conference rate expires in early September (Embassy Suites Hotel and Spa Botanica, 800 Munroe St. , Huntsville , AL ). To get the special conference rate of $124 per night (taxes not included), including a full breakfast, call 1-800-362-2779 ., or online at www.embassysuiteshuntsville.com, and refer to conference code CPH .

            MALMO, SWEDEN - Reuters Health noted adding cinnamon to a dessert may temper the blood sugar surge after a sweet treat, a study shows. Researchers at Malmo University Hospital found putting a little more than a teaspoon of cinnamon in a bowl of rice pudding cut the post-meal blood sugar rise in healthy volunteers. The findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition add to past studies that cinnamon may aid in blood sugar control. Dr. Joanna Hlebowicz and colleagues based findings on 14 healthy volunteers who had their blood sugar measured before and after eating a bowl of rice pudding; each was tested after eating plain rice pudding and after a cinnamon-spiced version. Post-pudding blood tests, taken repeatedly over two hours, showed volunteers' blood sugar rose to a lesser degree when they had the cinnamon dessert. One reason seems to be cinnamon slows the rate at which food passes from the stomach to the intestines, said the team.

            CALGARY, CANADA - A plate and cereal bowl with proper portion size markers seem to aid obese diabetics lose weight and cut glucose-controlling medications, noted a report in Archives of Internal Medicine. The proportion of U.S. adults 1960-2000 who were obese rose from 13.4 to 30.9%, the article stated. Most type 2 diabetes cases reflect obesity. Cutting calories has been shown to aid blood sugar control in diabetics, partially by fostering weight loss. The authors wrote: “Portion sizes are an important [factor in] energy intake; calories ingested by subjects at a meal have been correlated directly with the serving size offered.” Dr. Sue Pedersen, and colleagues at the University of Calgary , did a six-month controlled trial of commercially available portion control plates and bowls. The plates had sections for proteins, carbohydrates, cheese/sauce, with the rest for vegetables. The sections approximated an 800 calorie meal for men, a 650 calorie meal for women. The bowl allows a 200 calorie meal of cereal and milk. After follow-up, patients using the dishes -16.9% - lost at least 5% of their body weight.

            ST. LOUIS - Physicians have recognized scoliosis (abnormal curvature of the spine) since Hippocrates, but its causes have remained a mystery. Now, scientists have found a gene that underlies the ailment, which affects about 3% of all children. The finding lays groundwork for determining how a defect in gene CHD 7 leads to the C- and S-shaped curves that characterize scoliosis. The gene's link to scoliosis was found by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine, working with investigators at the University of Texas’ Southwestern Medical Center and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children (both in Dallas), Rutgers State University of New Jersey, and the University of Iowa. The group published its results in the American Journal of Human Genetics. Dr. Anne Bowcock, professor of genetics, medicine, and pediatrics, said: "If we understand the genetic basis of the condition, we can predict theoretically who is going to develop scoliosis and develop treatments to intervene before the deformity sets in. It may take many years to accomplish these goals, but I think it will happen eventually."

            NEW YORK - HealthDay News noted school nurses are crucial to aid heart health among children, read a statement from the American Heart Association. Efforts to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in childhood is important in preventing the illness, said Laura Hayman, professor of nursing in the department of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University. "Identifying risk factors for cardiovascular disease is a key of primary prevention; schools, preschools, and other community-based settings where child care is provided are important places to begin educating children and families about cardiovascular disease risk," she stated. Authors of the statement online at Circulation identified key players in helping reduce heart disease risk in children. "Because they're knowledgeable about resources in their communities, school nurses are well-positioned to provide appropriate referrals for children and their families once a risk factor is identified," said Hayman.

            BOSTON - The Associated Press reported more than 800 of them have lost an arm, a leg, fingers, or toes; more than 100 are blind. Dozens need machines to keep them alive. Hundreds are disfigured by burns, and thousands have brain injuries and mangled minds. America 's war wounded get less attention than the 3,500 troops killed in Iraq . They number 35,000-53,000, and more are coming home, with injuries of a magnitude the government didn’t predict and is struggling to treat. "If we left Iraq tomorrow, we would have the legacy of all these people for many years to come," said Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and an adviser to the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. "The military wasn't prepared for its success" at keeping severely wounded soldiers alive, he said. Unlike previous wars, few have been shot. The signature weapon of this war - the improvised explosive device - has left a signature wound: traumatic brain injury. Soldiers hit in the head or knocked out by blasts - "getting your bell rung" is the military euphemism - sometimes have no visible wounds but can be irritable, depressed, and unaware they are impaired.

            MONTREAL - HealthDay News noted an experimental DNA vaccine to fight Multiple Sclerosis is safe and may be effective, a Canadian trial found. BHT-3009 prevents the immune system from attacking myelin sheaths that protect brain and spinal cord nerve cells. Destruction of myelin then destroys a nerve cell's axon, which prevents cells from sending messages and is a hallmark of MS. "This was an early trial of a new class of drugs for auto-immune disease in general and MS in particular," said lead scientist Dr. Amit Bar-Or, of McGill University's Montreal Neurological Institute. The idea of the vaccine is to change immune cells that target the nervous system, Dr. Bar-Or said. "What we want to do is focus on just those cells involved in the disease process," he said. "Antigen-specific therapies are designed to try to modify or eliminate only those bad guy cells in the disease process." The vaccine uses a backbone of DNA onto which is set myelin basic protein, a component of myelin. When you inject it, the vaccine reduces the body's ability to attack myelin, Dr. Bar-Or said. The findings were online at Archives of Neurology and were to be published in the October print issue.