Health. iyouproject » RISK

A risk factor of heart attack.

laimisk — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:46:40 +0000

A person’s lifetime risk of getting heart disease may be much higher than previously thought, according to a major US study published on Wednesday.

A single risk factor — such as smoking, having diabetes, high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol — can significantly boost one’s likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke at some point in life.

However, most studies to date have focused on how such risks play out over the short term, such as five to 10 years, giving an unrealistic picture of the longer term, said the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.(...)
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Blood pressure.

laimisk — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:39:32 +0000

Even a slightly high blood pressure is considered dangerous to largely increase the stroke risk, a new study found.

The finding was published Wednesday on the online edition of U.S. medical journal Neurology.

In the study, researchers found people who have pre-hypertension, whose blood pressure measured between normal and high, are 55 percent more likely to suffer a stroke compared with normal people.

The study involved data from 12 previous studies on blood pressure and stroke occurrence of some 500,000 adults.

About one in three U.S. adults suffer from pre-hypertension, which is defined at a systolic blood pressure between 120 and 139 or a diastolic blood pressure between 80 and 89, according to the U.S. Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.

“People who do fall into the higher range of pre-hypertension should modify their lifestyle as much as possible,” suggested Dr. Bruce Ovbiagele, director of the Olive View-UCLA Stroke Program and leading author of the study.

Stroke is the number three cause of death, killing more than 130,000 in the U.S. a year, according to a CBS report.

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Of the 34 million people with HIV do not know they have it.

laimisk — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 08:41:22 +0000

About 7,000 people are being infected with AIDS each day and about half of the 34 million people with HIV do not know they have it, according to a U.N. report released to mark the disease’s 30th anniversary.

The UNAIDS agency said more money, less waste and smarter programs are urgently needed to consolidate gains made in the war on AIDS and HIV.

The report highlighted spectacular progress made in the 30 years since U.S. epidemiologists, in a study released on June 5, 1981, described the cases of five young homosexuals whose immune systems had been destroyed.(...)
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The real health hazards of cellphones.

laimisk — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:38:33 +0000

A respected international panel of scientists says cellphones are possible cancer-causing agents, putting them in the same category as the pesticide DDT, gasoline engine exhaust and coffee.

The classification was issued Tuesday in Lyon, France, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer after a review of dozens of published studies. The agency is an arm of the World Health Organization and its assessment now goes to WHO and national health agencies for possible guidance on cellphone use.(...)
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The skinny people and risk of colon cancer.

laimisk — Wed, 04 May 2011 10:10:33 +0000

Not only those with overweight problems face higher risk of colon cancer, but the skinny folk are also in the same boat, a latest study has found.
The surprising finding emerged from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a long-term research involving more than 50,000 participants and funded by the United States National Cancer Institute, local daily Straits Times.

Among those with a good body-mass index (BMI) of 21.5 to 24.4, only 89 out of 100,000 had colon cancer, the study found. Among those with BMIs of 18.5 to 21.4 and 24.5 to 27.4, the number of cases went up to 103.

And among those with BMIs of 18.5 or less, or the skinny folk, the incidence shot up to 119 or 33 percent higher than the ideal group, the study found.

The BMI is calculated by dividing the weight by the square of height, all in metric form. A person who is 1.65 meters tall and weighs 50 kilograms would fall in the skinny category, which makes up about 7.5 percent of the study group of 63,000 aged between 45 and 74.

Among those with a BMI of 27.5 or above, the incidence of colon cancer was 130 out of 100,000, about 46 percent higher than the ideal group.

The results surprised the research team, whose members included researchers from the University of Minesota in the United States.

Koh Woon Puay, a researcher at the National University of Singapore and the principal investigator of the study, said, “We are trying to understand how this is biologically plausible.”

The researchers suggest in their paper that the higher risk of colon cancer among underweight people could be due to something called “oxidative DNA stress,” or mild inflammations that hit the underweight, damaging their immune system and allowing cancer cells to proliferate.

This is unlike what causes cancer in the overweight, who are believed to have more insulin in their system, which might be responsible for decreasing the body’s ability to prevent tumors from forming.

The researchers also covered rectal cancer, but find there was hardly a difference between the different groups.

Koh said the results of the study could apply across all races, as the studies in Japan and South Korea also found a link between obesity and a higher risk of colon cancer.

The colorectal cancer has become the top cancer in Singapore, with the Chinese more likely to get it than the Malays and Indians, according to figures from Singapore’s cancer registry. Chinese men are twice as likely as Malay men and three times as likely as Indian men to get colorectal cancer.

The finding will be published in Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society in June.

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A flood of new medicines.

laimisk — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:21:09 +0000

The strategy announced by Kerlikowske’s office calls for additional training on responsible prescription practices for the more than 1 million doctors authorized to prescribe certain controlled substances. Such a change would require congressional approval.

Although the DEA and local police recently arrested more than 20 people, including five doctors, in a crackdown on South Florida pill mills, Kerlikowske said it’s not strictly a law enforcement issue.(...)
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Epidemic of Fatty Liver Disease.

laimisk — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 15:36:22 +0000

The United States could soon be faced with an epidemic of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ( NAFLD), one of the major contributing factors of chronic liver disease (CLD), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) reported Saturday.

If the current rates of obesity and diabetes continue for another two decades, the prevalence of NAFLD in the U.S. is expected to increase by 50 percent in 2030, AAAS said.(...)
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The epilepsy drug Topamax (topiramate)

laimisk — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:10:19 +0000

DANGER !
New data suggest that the epilepsy drug Topamax (topiramate) and its generic versions increase the risk for the birth defects cleft lip and cleft palate in babies born to women who use the medication during pregnancy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Friday in a statement.

Before prescribing topiramate, approved to treat certain types of seizures in people who have epilepsy, health care professionals should warn patients of childbearing age about the potential hazard to the fetus if a woman becomes pregnant while using the drug, the FDA said.(...)
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Cancer rates are increasing.

laimisk — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:06:34 +0000

The majority of the world’s annual new cancer cases and deaths (7.1 million and 4.8 million, respectively) are now occurring in economically developing countries.

Cancer rates are increasing in developing countries due to changing lifestyles linked with economic growth, the American Cancer Society (ACS) said.

This reflects the growing adoption of unhealthy behaviors — such as smoking, sedentary lifestyles and poor diets — that typically accompany economic development, according to the report which was released to mark the World Cancer Day that falls on Feb. 4.(...)
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The health risk at all cigarettes

laimisk — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:01:15 +0000

Electronic cigarettes, which are increasingly used worldwide, are unsafe and pose health risks, a new study suggests.

To determine the health effects of e-cigarettes, researchers at the University of California (UC), Riverside evaluated five e- cigarette brands and found design flaws, lack of adequate labeling, and several concerns about quality control and health issues.

They conclude that e-cigarettes are potentially harmful and urge regulators to consider removing e-cigarettes from the market until their safety is adequately evaluated.

The findings were reported in EurekAlert.org, a website of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Unlike conventional cigarettes, which burn tobacco, e- cigarettes vaporize nicotine, along with other compounds present in the cartridge, in the form of aerosol created by heating, but do not produce the thousands of chemicals and toxicants created by tobacco combustion.

Nothing is known, however, about the chemicals present in the aerosolized vapors emanating from e-cigarettes.

“As a result, some people believe that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute for conventional cigarettes,” said Prue Talbot, the director of UC Riverside’s Stem Cell Center, whose lab led the research.

“However, there are virtually no scientific studies on e- cigarettes and their safety. Our study – one of the first studies to evaluate e-cigarettes – shows that this product has many flaws, which could cause serious public health problems in the future if the flaws go uncorrected.”

The findings from the study include:

– Batteries, atomizers, cartridges, cartridge wrappers, packs and instruction manuals lack important information regarding e- cigarette content, use and essential warnings;

– E-cigarette cartridges leak, which could expose nicotine, an addictive and dangerous chemical, to children, adults, pets and the environment;

– Currently, there are no methods for proper disposal of e- cigarettes products and accessories, including cartridges, which could result in nicotine contamination from discarded cartridges entering water sources and soil, and adversely impacting the environment; and

– The manufacture, quality control, sales, and advertisement of e-cigarettes are unregulated.

“More research on e-cigarettes is crucially needed to protect the health of e-cigarette users and even those who do not use e- cigarettes,” said Kamlesh Asotra, a research administrator at the University of California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP).

“Contrary to the claims of the manufacturers and marketers of e- cigarettes being ‘safe,’ in fact, virtually nothing is known about the toxicity of the vapors generated by these e-cigarettes.

“Until we know any thing about the potential health risks of the toxins generated upon heating the nicotine-containing content of the e-cigarette cartridges, the ‘safety’ claims of the manufacturers are dubious at best,” Asotra said.