September 2nd, 2010
by Jimmy Downs
Hormone replacement therapy based on either estrogen-alone or estrogen-plus progestin, which is commonly prescribed to women to ease menopause symptoms, increases risk of breast cancer, particularly hormone-receptor positive malignancies, a new study confirmed.
The study in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention also showed that hormone replacement therapy raised higher risk of breast cancer in women with a healthy body mass index than those with a BMI over 30.
Tanmai Saxena from the University of Southern California and colleagues followed almost 3,000 women who received hormone replacement therapy for about 10 years from 1995 through 2006.
The researchers found the longer a woman used either estrogen-alone therapy or estrogen-plus-progestin therapy, the higher the risk of breast cancer. Higher risk was found in women who continuously used the treatment than those who took breaks during some period of therapy. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Cancer, hormone replacement therapy
Posted in Cancer, Cardiovascular Health | No Comments »
September 1st, 2010
by Nicholas Wade
A new generation of DNA tests for colon cancer seems likely to improve the detection both of cancers and of the precancerous polyps that precede them. The tests, if validated, could reduce the burden of disease substantially by detecting tumors at an early stage, including those not picked up by a colonoscopy.
Colorectal cancers tend to grow slowly and are easily removed if caught early. But many people over 50 do not comply with the recommendation to have a colonoscopy — a time-consuming procedure in which a tube is threaded up the intestine — and even colonoscopies do not catch everything. Colorectal cancer has become the second most common cancer in the United States; each year it causes more than 50,000 deaths and costs about $14 billion to treat.
Colon tumors provide considerable evidence of their presence by shedding blood and cells that are detectable in the stool. Tests for blood have reduced deaths from colorectal cancer only modestly, because they are not very sensitive to precancerous polyps, the stage at which cancer is best prevented. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: colon cancer, dna
Posted in Cancer | No Comments »
August 31st, 2010
by Todd Neale
REM sleep behavior disorder — in which dreams are accompanied by excessive movement — may be a sign of neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s disease that manifest several decades later, a case series showed.
Among 27 patients with Parkinson’s disease, multiple system atrophy, or dementia with Lewy bodies, the median time between the onset of REM sleep behavior disorder and symptom onset of the neurodegenerative condition was 25 years, according to Bradley Boeve, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues.
In one case, the time span reached 50 years, they reported in the Aug. 10 issue of Neurology.
Previous studies have found that REM sleep behavior disorder precedes Parkinson’s disease and related conditions by about a decade in most cases, although there were occasional cases with a wider interval. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: parkinson's disease, REM sleep, sleep disorder
Posted in Chronic Disease | No Comments »
August 30th, 2010
Scientists have devised a new strategy to fix the broken heart – a tiny scaffold that they claim will repair damaged cardiac muscle cells and help prevent congestive heart failure.
The University of Washington researchers, who developed the scaffold, said the damage to heart muscle following a heart attack is irreversible and it leads to congestive heart failure – the most common cause of death in developed countries.
But the scaffold, which supports the growth of cardiac cells and blood vessels in laboratory animals, can be a new strategy to prevent people dying from congestive heart failure, they said in a release. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cardiac muscles, heart failure
Posted in Cardiovascular Health | No Comments »
August 29th, 2010
by Lisa Jo Rudy
A new study suggests that antidepressants such as Prozac and Zoloft, often prescribed to children and adults with autism, are ineffective in managing autistic symptoms. The study is actually a compilation of findings from earlier studies, some of which are small and only one of which is described as “large and robust.”
The focus of the study was on the ability of antidepressants (SSRI’s) to actually reduce “core symptoms of autism.” These symptoms are described specifically as problems with social interaction, communication and self-injurious behavior. It’s important to note that SSRI’s are not typically prescribed as a tool for improving these challenges. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: antidepressants, Autism, ssri
Posted in Autism | No Comments »
August 28th, 2010
by Jonathan Benson
Researchers from Indiana University (IU) in Bloomington recently conducted a study on the effects of praying directly with someone for healing. According to Candy Gunther Brown, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at IU and author of the study, “proximal intercessory prayer”, as she calls it, can actually help to bring about healing.
Published in the Southern Medical Journal, the study is part of a larger research project investigating the power of spiritual healing practices to heal disease. For this particular study, Brown and her team investigated two charismatic Christian groups known for their healing prayer activities, one from Africa and one from South America.
The team measured the hearing and vision capabilities of impaired people both before and after they received proximal intercessory prayer, and discovered a “statistically significant” improvement in many of them after they had received prayer. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: healing, prayer
Posted in Health Optimization | No Comments »
August 27th, 2010
by Katie Drummond
Yet another reason to rethink a diet heavy in fried, packaged and processed foods: It could be the culprit to blame for the childhood development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
A study out of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, Australia, evaluated the diets of 1,800 teens, 115 of whom had been diagnosed with ADHD before the age of 14. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: ADHD, fried food, healthy diet
Posted in Health Optimization | No Comments »
August 26th, 2010
by Dave Thier
Chomping down on a habanero may have more subtle benefits than bragging rights. According to a new study, capsaicin, the compound that makes hot peppers spicy, may also lower your blood pressure.
The study, published in this month’s Cell Metabolism journal, found that long-term consumption of capsaicin relaxed blood vessels in genetically hypertensive rats. Researcher Zhiming Zhu of the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China, noticed that population studies with humans suggest a similar phenomenon: Hypertension rates are only 10 to 14 percent in his native southwestern China, where people regularly eat spicy foods, as opposed to 20 percent in the comparatively bland north. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: blood pressure, hot peppers
Posted in Health Optimization | No Comments »
August 25th, 2010
by Andrew Schneider
A major U.S. fish research company has tampered with the DNA of Atlantic salmon by adding a quick-growth gene that allows the fish to eat year-around and grow more quickly. And the Food and Drug Administration is about to allow these genetically engineered salmon to head to market, the company says.
But food safety activists insist that the FDA doesn’t have adequate tests and regulations to ensure the safety of modified seafood, and others question whether consumers are even ready for it.
“Far from being a benefit to consumers or the environment, this merely allows factory fish farms to double production rates,” said George Kimbrell, senior attorney for the Center for Food Safety.
Nevertheless, AquaBounty Technologies in Waltham, Mass., near Boston, is already producing tiny red Atlantic salmon eggs that have been injected with a gene from Pacific Chinook salmon and another gene from the ocean pout. This genetic modification gives the engineered fish the ability to grow to market size in half the time of salmon that haven’t been messed with. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: aquabounty, fish, genetically engineered food, seafood
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
