STB's News You Can Use -- 6 December 1996

News about Alzheimer's
Coated aspirin no safer than plain?
Cancer cluster called "coincidence"
Air bag tragedy jolts carmakers
Most cancer deaths linked to lifestyle
Ebola, E. coli, AIDS, flu outbreaks
Who's prone to panic attacks?
Health News & Notes
Buffalo News_ article on STB
Index of past newsletters

* News You Can Use! -- 6 December 1996 *

Treatments, therapies and risks for Alzheimer's

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a second drug to ease the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Aricept mimics Cognex, but promises to have fewer side effects. Neither drug slows the progression of the brain disease. See the USA Today story.
One distinctive feature of Alzheimer's is its ability to erase the memory. Now scientists want to know if another drug, Ampakine CX-516, can improve the memory of Alzheimer's patients. The drug appears to accelerate signals between brain cells, sharpening the memory. Dr. Gary Lynch of the University of California at Irvine tested the drug on students in their early 20's and men aged 65 to 70. Lynch said the results were "particularly striking" among the older people -- they scored near the range of the young people after taking Ampakine. Lynch reported his findings to the 17 November 1996 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Testing will begin next year at the National Institutes of Health.
A similar memory-enhancing effect was noted in a very small sample of elderly women who received estrogen treatments. Researchers in Tacoma, Washington, did an experiment with 12 women in their 70's, all with mild to moderate Alzheimer's. The tests on the women who received estrogen treatments showed that their memory and attention scores almost doubled. While the lead author acknowledges that the experiment was too small to be conclusive, he also says it warrants further study. See the CNN story.
One important about taking estrogen -- it doesn't mix with alcohol. The report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that drinking alcohol tripled the blood estrogen in postmenopausal women taking hormones. Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg, who led the study, says alcohol may alter the way estrogen is absorbed or broken down in the body. In fact, this may even explain how estrogen therapy could raise the risk of breast cancer, as previous studies have intimated. More data is needed.
And finally, a landmark ruling in Canada may affect thousands of workers. A 51-year-old Toronto electrician has won the right to compensation for mental problems he says were caused by working with aluminum. The decision by the Workers Compensation Appeals Tribunal is believed to be the first official recognition that aluminum exposure at work can cause neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. The long-time construction electrician would routinely weld aluminum pipes, grind the metal, spray aluminum paint, and sand with aluminum oxide sandpaper. He takes no joy in the victory, since memory problems have prevented him from working since 1990. (Associated Press, 17 November 1996, 20 November, 26 November; Broadcast News, 23 November)

Study finds coated aspirin no gentler on the stomach than regular

Aspirin long has been hailed by manufacturers as a "wonder drug," but everyone knows it's bad for the stomach. In response, companies formulated a coated aspirin to lessen its gastric assault. But a study conducted by the Boston University School of Medicine and published in The Lancet says that coating aspirin has little or no effect. The researchers looked at the aspirin consumption habits of 550 patients hospitalized for internal bleeding, and those of about 1200 healthy people. They concluded that taking an aspirin a day roughly triples the risk of severe internal bleeding. And it doesn't matter whether the pill in question is plain, buffered with an agent such as chalk, or covered with a silicon-type substance known as enteric coating. Plus, in higher doses, the risk of severe internal bleeding increased sixfold with plain aspirin, and sevenfold with buffered strengths. Despite the findings, aspirin makers stand by their claims that coated aspirin is safer for the stomach. (Associated Press, 21 November 1996)

High incidence of cancer in Ontario office termed coincidence

In a recent edition of News You Can Use!, we told you about a Bell Canada office in Hamilton, Ontario, with a strikingly high incidence of cancer. Now a cancer expert hired by Bell has determined that the cases are coincidental. Dr. Gilles Theriault, an epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, looked at the unusual case of the third floor of the Bell Canada Centre. In a seven-year span, eight cases of cancer have been confirmed among the 50 workers on the floor, including five breast cancers. In September 1996, the workers were moved up to the seventh floor, while all manners of testing was conducted on the third. Air quality, electromagnetic and radiation emmissions were studied, but nothing unusual could be found. Theriault says it has the characteristics of a classical cluster, which has "happened by chance." The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union accused the phone company of indifference. A Bell Canada spokesperson says no further testing will be done, but the firm will establish a cancer surveillance programs for the former third floor workers. (Broadcast News, 27 November 1996, 30 November)

Changes called for in the wake of tragic air bag death

How many lives have been saved by air bags? Mine, probably. My car was a total loss after slamming into a wall, but I walked away without a scratch. But there have been a growing number of incidents of people hurt or killed by the very device that was installed to protect them in a crash. In Boise, Idaho, a Volkswagen Jetta rear-ended another car in a slow-speed fender-bender, the sort of minor crash that hurts no-one. But the passenger-side air bag deployed with such force, that it decapitated the one-year-old child sitting in a child seat. Air bags have now been blamed in the deaths of 32 children and 20 short adults. In these cases, the crash itself was at a slow speed, but the air bag deployed at a fatal force. The bag is designed to catch people in their chest, but short people and children are having their heads snapped back instead.
What to do? Grieve for little Alexandra Greer in Boise and her family. And prevent it from happening again. First, put children in the back seat, in a securely fastened child seat. Learn how to secure the child seat. If renting a car, insist on getting proper instructions for the car you'll be using. Second, if you're a shorter adult at the wheel, wherever possible tilt the steering wheel down, so that a deploying air bag would catch you in the chest. Automakers have begun putting brightly colored warning labels on their new cars.

But there are more developments on the way. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to allow customers to disconnect their air bags if they've been informed about the benefits and risks. (It's presently illegal for garages to do it for you.) NHTSA officials are also pushing automakers to design and offer air bags that deploy with 20% to 35% less force, and/or be able to "sense" the size and weight of the passenger, and adjust deployment appropriately.
And, by the way, here's another example of how an air bag can hurt you. A car driven by a British Columbia man collided with a truck, causing his air bag to deploy. He ended up with burns to his face, and burns right through the two shirts he wore to his chest. Why? He was smoking, and the cigarette ignited the gas used to deploy the air bag. (Associated Press, 22 November 1996, 27 November; Broadcast News, 19 November)

Most cancer deaths caused by smoking, diet, and lifestyle

Who's to blame for most deaths by cancer? Why, *we* are. The Harvard School of Public Health estimates that 65% of the people who die of cancer did so because they engaged in some preventable behavior. The study estimated that 30% of cancer deaths are caused by smoking and tobacco, 30% can be chalked up to diet and obesity, and another 5% can be attributed to a lack of exercise.
Yes, some cancer deaths are not preventable. The researchers estimated that 10% of cancer mortality is linked to genetics, but just two percent can be traced to environmental pollution. That leads the report to conclude that the public's concern about cancer-causing agents in the environment, while well-meaning, is way out of proportion with the actual risk they present. (Associated Press, 19 November 1996)

The latest news about outbreaks of Ebola, E. coli, AIDS, TB, and flu

South Africa has recorded its first death from the Ebola virus. A doctor from Gabon contracted Ebola, and recovered in a Johannesburg hospital. But a nurse treating him died 24 November. The South African authorities have been monitoring everyone they believe had contact with the nurse, and they feel confident the case is isolated.
The mystery continues in the Northwestern United States. Federal tests of the Odwalla processing plant found no trace of the E. coli bacteria that infected at least 50 children who drank Odwalla apple juice, killing one. The company says the search for the contaminant will now focus on fruit growers and packers. In the meantime, Odwalla has decided to begin flash-pasteurizing its apple juice. the quick heating and immediate re-cooling are intended to kill bacteria while retaining most of the flavor. The company says the new juice, to reach stores 6 December, will have a brighter color and slightly lighter taste.
Half a world away, E. coli has killed its sixth victim in a Scottish outbreak. Health officials believe all of the 58 people hospitalized ate meat purchased at a butcher shop in Wishaw (12 miles southeast of Glasgow).
Health officials in the U.S. Midwest are concerned about a flu outbreak. About 300 students at a job corps training center at a National Guard complex in southern Indiana have come down with influenza A, and most of them had returned home for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend before the outbreak was confirmed. Health officials were kept busy notifying students who may spread the flu in Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The immediate concern was for elderly relatives of the students, since they would be most at risk. Health officials recommend an immediate flu shot, which could save their lives.
The United Nations Agency on AIDS says the disease is accelerating so quickly that one-quarter of all AIDS deaths have occured within the past year. The HIV infection rate is racing through women and children -- and it's exploding in Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe. Even areas of the world that had been relatively free of the disease are beginning to be hard hit. About 90% of the people with HIV live in developing countries, which lack the facilities, medicine, and awareness to deal with the disease.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the United States and Mexico must work together to battle an invader that knows no borders -- tuberculosis. The world's top infectious killer continues to claim the lives of three million people annually. About eight percent of the 22,000 cases reported in the United States in 1995 were people born in Mexico, and concentrated in border towns in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The CDC has extra concern for TB, because it can be highly contagious, and can become drug resistant. (Associated Press, 18 November 1996, 25 November, 27 November, 29 November, 30 November)

A simple questionnaire may identify those prone to panic attacks

A study presented 23 November to the annual convention of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy suggests a way to identify those at risk for panic attacks. Researchers propose measuring how much a person reacts to harmless body sensations, such as shortness of breath or accelerated heartbeat. For example, if someone felt that those two symptoms were signs of impending suffocation or a heart attack, respectively, they could be classified as a high risk for anxiety attacks. It's estimated that more than three million American adults have panic disorder, and the researchers hope that people in high-stress jobs who are diagnosed will be given the psychological training they need to lower their risk. (Associated Press, 21 November 1996)
See the CNN story.

News You Can Use! (but I couldn't squeeze in)

Henpecked husbands live longer. According to research out of the University of Chicago, men actually benefit from all that nagging, since there's someone to monitor their health. Men married to nags are only half as likely to die prematurely from hypertension, one-fourth as likely to die of throat cancer, and one-seventh as likely to die from pneumonia. (CBS Radio, 2 December 1996)
Did you know there's an Acne Research Institute in Newport Beach, California? Apparently there is. Anyway, a Dr. James Fulton from this research facility says the new way to battle blemishes is to rub ice cubes on your face, for three minutes, once a day, just before applying your acne medication. Cool. (CBS Radio, 2 December 1996)
From the I Thought I'd Heard Everything Dept.: 65-year-old Dr. Gilles Gagnon, a general practitioner in Montreal, Quebec, received sexual favors from a female escort at his office in August 1996, and charged the encounter on her Medicare card. (Exactly how did he write that up?) Gagnon made the admission in testimony against the escort service's driver, who was accused of trying to extort $20,000 from the doctor. The province's Health Insurance Board says the doctor could be charged with fraud if he billed Medicare for services not provided. Well, *medical* services not provided, let's say. (Broadcast News, 25 November 1996)
One-third of all serious in-line skating injuries could be prevented if all skaters wore wrist guards and elbow pads. That's the conclusion of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. About 100,000 skaters visited emergency rooms in 1995, and nearly half used no safety gear at all. Only seven percent were properly outfitted with wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads, and helmets. Those who wore the gear were ten times less likely to get hurt. So, if in-line skates are on the Christmas list, don't forget the safety gear. (Associated Press, 27 November 1996)
Something to think about -- drug companies are the biggest source of funds for medical research. So who's driving the health agenda? wonders Dr. Penny Ballem, vice-president of British Columbia Women's Hospital. She's calling for conflict of interest guidelines between doctors and drug companies. And Dr. Ballem says hospitals and universities should have research projects assessed by people with no vested interest in their outcome. (Broadcast News, 2 December 1996)
And the Food Police are back. Actually, it's the Center for Science in the Public Interest, but I like Food Police better sometimes. Their latest targets are so-called "energy" foods and drinks. The Center wants the word "energy" removed from labels unless the company can prove their products make people more energetic than other foods. A spokesman for Mead Johnson, maker of "Boost" and "Nutrament" energy drinks, says they do not claim that the products provide a jolt or burst of energy or vitality. I don't know, do you think we *need* government regulation in this area? (Associated Press, 27 November 1996)

*** News You Can Use! -- 6 December 1996 ***

* News You Can Use! -- 6 December 1996 *