Too much ho-ho-ho?

            JACKSONVILLE , FL - Acid reflux atop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is tied to twice as many COPD exacerbations a year versus reflux, researchers told MedPage Today. Reflux patients also appeared to have more severe COPD exacerbations, said Dr. Kenneth J. Vega, of the University of Florida , and colleagues, in the journal Chest. An acute COPD exacerbation was defined as worsening difficulty breathing, increasing volume of sputum, or purulent sputum in conjunction with physician-initiated use of corticosteroids or antibiotics, hospitalization, or emergency department visit during the previous year. Participants in the study with gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms had 3.2 exacerbations per year versus 1.6 per year among those without reflux symptoms. This was despite similar lung capacity between groups and use of antireflux medications by most GERD patients. According to previous studies, COPD patients have an average of 2.4 to three acute exacerbations per year.versus COPD patients without GERD, exacerbations in patients with weekly reflux symptoms required significantly more hospitalizations per year, emergency room visits per year,  unscheduled clinic visits per year, and antibiotic use per year. More than a third of surveyed COPD patients had weekly reflux or heartburn symptoms and were classified as having GERD. By comparison, an estimated 14-19% of the general U.S. adult population experience weekly gastroesophageal reflux symptoms.

            BIRMINGHAM , AL - HealthDay News  noted many Americans suffer a stroke and don't know it or don't do anything about it, a study finds. Scientists say as many as 18% of adults with no history of stroke had at least one stroke symptom in the past. A University of Alabama/Birmingham team interviewed and did brief physical examinations of more than 18,000 people (average age 66) never diagnosed with stroke. Participants were asked if they had ever suffered certain stroke symptoms and nearly 3,300 (17.8%) said they had. The study found sudden numbness on one side was reported by 8.5% of the participants; sudden weakness on one side was noted by 5.8%; sudden vision loss in one or both eyes, 4.6%; sudden loss of the ability to express themselves in speech or writing, 3.8%; sudden loss of the ability to understand what others were saying, 2.7%.These stroke symptoms were more likely to occur in black Americans and in people with lower incomes, less education, poorer health status and higher stroke risk scores. "The last finding suggests at least some of these symptoms may represent stroke events that reach the threshold required for clinical diagnosis," the study authors wrote. "These undiagnosed or unrecognized events could have a substantial impact on cognitive functioning or personality and could also be powerful harbingers of subsequent major strokes." The study was in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

            OXFORD , ENGLAND - Reuters Health disclosed abortion doesn’t affect the risk of breast cancer, states a study in the International Journal of Cancer. "It is well established that pregnancies that end in a full-term birth ultimately confer a protective effect on breast cancer risk," Dr. Gillian Reeves, of the University of Oxford , and colleagues write. "The effect of incomplete pregnancies on the risk of breast cancer has been less clear." Scientists examined the role of abortion on breast cancer risk among 267,361 women enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition 1992-2000. The data came from 20 centers in nine countries, followed for an average of 6.6 years, and 4,805 women were diagnosed with breast cancer during follow-up. The researchers included all pregnancies that ended prior to 20 weeks or the stage of viability - miscarriage - and therapeutic or induced abortions. "Overall, almost two-thirds of women reported never having had any type of abortion, while about one-third reported having had at least one type of abortion," Dr. Reeves and colleagues report. Approximately 20% reported having a spontaneous abortion versus about 16% who reported having an induced abortion. Only 3.8% of women reported having both types of abortion. Having one miscarriage didn’t affect the risk of breast cancer and having two or more miscarriages only slightly increased the risk. No evidence of a relationship between one or more induced abortions and breast cancer was found. "Overall, the findings provide further unbiased evidence of the lack of an adverse effect of induced abortion on breast cancer risk," the team concludes.

            SEATTLE - A novel look at the brains of adults with Autism gave new evidence various brain regions of people with the developmental disorder may not communicate with each other as efficiently as they do in other people, Newswise noted. Scientists at the University of Washington ’s Autism Center said at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience on a study that measures neural activity using high-resolution electroencephalography (EEG) to examine connections in the cerebral cortex, which deals with higher cognitive processes. Compared to normally developing individuals, scientists found patterns of abnormal connectivity between brain regions in people with Autism. These abnormalities showed over and under connectivity between neurons in different parts of the cortex, said Michael Murias, a postdoctoral researcher who headed the study. “Our findings indicate adults with Autism show differences in coordinated neural activity,” said Murias, “which implies poor internal communication between the parts of the brain.” The researchers analyzed EEGs from 36 adults, ages 19 to 38. Half the adults had Autism and all had IQs of at least 80. The EEGs, which measure activity of hundreds of millions of brain cells, were collected with an array of 124 electrodes while the people were seated and relaxed with eyes closed for two minutes. The researchers found patterns of higher than normal neural connectivity in the left hemisphere, particularly in the temporal lobe of the persons with Autism within the delta and theta bands. This part of the brain is associated with language, which is impaired in many people with Autism.