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*** News You Can Use! -- 11 May 1997 ***
The World Health Organization reports that life expectancy is rising worldwide, thanks to medical advances. But the United Nations agency also says people are throwing away the chance for a healthy old age because of sedentary lifestyles, bad diet, smoking, and alcohol abuse. While the average life span in developing countries has reached 64 years, and up to 80 years in some industrialized nations, it hasn't meant a happy old or healthy old age for most. The report warns that so-called diseases of the rich (cancers, heart attacks and strokes) will increase as the customs of developed nations around the world. (Associated Press, 4 May 1997)
See the CNN and USA Today stories.
*** Imagine a flu vaccine that didn't require a shot, especially if you have kids who hate getting inoculated. It could be a reality by 1999. Senior researcher Dr. James King of the University of Maryland Medical Center and researchers at five other institutions tested the spray on 320 children. In this trial, the nasal spray protected against major strains of the flu as effectively as a vaccine shot. The spray could encourage whole families to get immunized, especially kids who are likely to become exposed to the flu virus at school. Plus, the spray could be written up as a prescription, so Mom could deliver the dose.
See the CNN story.
*** There's a new weapon for people trying to quit smoking. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a nicotine inhaler developed by Pharmacia and Upjohn, to be sold by prescription only. The FDA says the inhaler works about as well as the nicotine nasal spray, available by prescription, or over-the-counter measures such as nicotine patches or gum. McNeil Consumer Products is marketing the inhaler, which should be available later this year. (Associated Press, 5 May 1997, 6 May; Broadcast News, 7 May)
See the CNN/Reuters, USA Today, and Doctor's Guide stories.
*** Dangerous drivers: The American Psychiatric Association warns that people with Alzheimer's disease can cause car crashes, even in the early stages of the mind-robbing disorder. But how do you take the car keys from loved ones? The association recommends doctors write a prescription against driving, so relatives have something to use as leverage when their loved ones forget. They also say that doctors may have to breach patient confidentiality in some cases, and notify authorities about dangerous drivers, something that's already required in California.
See the CNN story.
*** Caregivers on the Alzheimer's mailing list I was on talked about saying the car was in the shop, and then never giving the car keys back. But new ethical guidelines released by the Alzheimer Society of Canada suggest that honesty is the best policy, wherever possible. The task force, which included doctors and ethicists, suggest that a diagnosis of dementia should not be hidden from a patient, and that people with Alzheimer's should be allowed to make their own choices as long as possible.
*** A study appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that Vitamin E and a Parkinson's Disease drug may be effective in delaying the progression of Alzheimer's. Patients diagnosed with moderately severe symptoms who took high doses of Vitamin E delayed milestones such as going into a nursing home by about seven months. The study also found that the prescription drug Eldepryl seems to work about as well as Vitamin E, and since both appear to protect brain cells from the damaging effects of oxygen, researchers may have another important clue in the fight against Alzheimer's.
*** One more good word about Vitamin E: A study from Tufts University and reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that moderate supplements boost the immune system in people over 65. Subjects who took 20 times the recommended daily allowance for four months had a 65% increase in their T-cell function. T-cells are white blood cells that lead the body's defenses, by fighting against viruses and tumors. Subjects also saw their response to Hepatitis B vaccine rise sixfold, making it more effective. While this suggests that large doses of Vitamin E would be beneficial, one researcher said there's no evidence yet that the people who took the supplements actually got fewer diseases.
See the USA Today overview about Vitamin E and a USA Today story about Vitamin E's boost to the immune system. Or see the CNN story.
(Associated Press, 23 April 1997, 30 April, 6 May; Broadcast News, 18 April)
Several reports of good news in the search for an AIDS vaccine:
*** Frederick Coulston, chief executive of the Coulston Foundation, says an anti-AIDS vaccine tested on chimpanzees "looks like it's the answer." A team of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania has been working with the foundation and Apollon Inc. of Malvern, Pennsylvania, on the project. Because it uses no living HIV, the vaccine can't cause AIDS. If human testing goes as hoped, a vaccine could be commercially available within two to three years.
*** A three-drug "cocktail" has a devastating effect on the HIV virus in one of its favorite hangouts -- the tonsils. Already shown to virtually eradicate HIV in the bloodstream, scientists wanted to know if the cocktail would have the same effect in tissues like the tonsils and lymph nodes, where the virus is produced and stored. The research is reported in the journal Science.
See the CNN story about both the chimp study and the "cocktail."
*** Researchers from Duke University have reworked a virus that sickens canaries into one that produces a surge in warrior T-cells that battle the AIDS virus. Healthy volunteers were injected with the canary virus, plus some HIV genes. Their bodies reacted by producing T-cells that attacked the HIV genes. The report was presented to a May 5th National Institutes of Health symposium on HIV vaccine candidates.
*** One group that needs safe blood was a frequent victim of the AIDS virus in the days before its mechanism was better understood. Now hemophiliacs infected by tainted blood products have accepted a 600 million dollar settlement from four health care companies. Each of the approximately 6200 hemophiliacs who contracted HIV through blood products from 1978 through 1985, or their survivors, will receive $100,000. Another 550 hemophiliacs continue to pursue separate lawsuits. (Associated Press, 29 April 1997, 5 May, 7 May)
Are you the kind of person who believes that health professionals suppress potential cures so they can keep making money off their medicines? Well, I'm not. Even if you believe there are people venal enough to hurt their fellow man for profit, I still imagine there are *some* people in each of those companies who'd blow the whistle on the whole business before they got whisked away in a black helicopter (fill in your favorite conspiracy theory here).
Nevertheless, I admit *this* story is unnerving. Synthetic thyroid hormones are a 600 million dollar market, and when a preliminary study showed that one hormone in particular was more effective, its manufacturer, Knoll Pharmaceutical, financed a larger study. But when that follow-up study found that cheaper alternatives worked as well as Knoll's hormone, the company blocked the study's release -- for six years.
Knoll says it objected to the research for scientific reasons, and the implication that their motives are otherwise come from the researcher who conducted the study. But the results are finally available, in the Journal of the American Medical Association. And they could endanger the dominant position of Knoll's hormone. (Associated Press, 15 April 1997)
*** Some kids getting fatter: A study reported in the journal Pediatrics looked at 15,000 children from 1971 to 1994, and found that while the weight of younger preschoolers is holding steady, there's a slight increase in the average weight of four- and five-year-olds. Researchers say it's not that kids are eating more, or eating more fat -- they're not active enough.
*** Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have found that a hormone that acts on the brain to suppress appetite, leptin, also burns fat within the cells. Lab rats genetically altered to high levels of leptin lost all the fat in their bodies within days. The findings were reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
See the USA Today story. But also see their story about one scientist who says leptin doesn't work the same way in humans as it does in mice. That's also in USA Today.
*** Several drug companies are having success developing a pill that will speed up the body's metabolism, simulates the effect of exercise, breaks down additional fat and flushes it from the body. The super diet pill could be store shelves in the next five to ten years. Chemists warn that it's not a get-thin-quick pill, but rather works slowly, and works best along with a healthy diet and regular exercise. The details were released at the American Chemical Society meeting April 16.
*** If you think the super diet pill will get you off the hook for some exercise, how about this: some obesity may be caused by a virus. University of Wisconsin researchers say the AD-36 virus, which has been proven to fatten animals, has been linked -- circumstantially -- with human obesity. Scientists compared a group of obese patients with lean people. One-sixth of the obese people showed signs of the virus, while none of the lean people did. Most doctors agree that the major causes of obesity are poor diet and lack of exercise. But the researchers say the virus could be involved, too.
See the USA Today story.
*** On April 18, a group of scientists aired their concerns about the anti-obesity drug Redux, and the possibility it may cause brain damage. The Food and Drug Administration responded that they are watching for side effects, but as yet, have not seen anything to raise a red flag about Redux, from Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories. The developers of the drug insist Redux is safe, when taken as directed.
*** Diet Pill Death: Mary Linnen was trying to lose weight in time for her wedding. So she took a drug therapy called phen-fen (phentermine and fenfluramine) for 24 days in 1996. Mary Linnen was 30 when she died of cardiovascular disease in February, which her parents believe was caused by the diet drugs. They also claim Mary was never warned that the diet drugs had fatal side effects. They're suing her doctor, a national pharmacy chain, and the drug manufacturers.
See the USA Today story, and the CNN story from October 1996 about the dangers of phen-fen.
*** Liposuction Death: Judy Fernandez had 20 pounds of fat removed during liposuction surgery, but then she bled to death. The Medical Board of California says the doctors involved, Dr. Earle Matory Jr. and anesthesiologist Dr. Robert Hoo, are a threat to public safety. After the operation at the clinic of A New You Plastic Surgery Medical Group, Fernandez was taken to Irvine Medical Center. She was not breathing and had no pulse when she arrived, with clear liquid leaking from liposuction puncture wounds. Other plastic surgeons say removing large amounts of fat at once can cause dangerous blood loss and fluid imbalance. (Associated Press, 5 May 1997, 1 May, 28 April, 22 April, 16 April, 7 April)
Mankind is suffering a few setbacks in the battle against disease. On the occasion of World Health Day, the United Nations' World Health Organization says new infectious diseases are spreading fast, and old killers are making stunning comebacks. They noted the rise of AIDS and Ebola, as well as the return of malaria and tuberculosis in new, drug-resistant strains. WHO says the turnaround is partly due to complacency due to antibiotics.
See the CNN story.
*** Cholera epidemic in Zaire: The World Health Organization has declared an epidemic of cholera among Rwandan Hutu refugees trapped in rebel-held Eastern Zaire. WHO spokesman Leonard Kinuani says 120 cases of cholera have been recorded, with five deaths (as of 12 April 1997). More than two million Hutus fled Rwanda in July 1994, and although most returned home in late 1996, Zaire has been aggressively trying to repatriate the rest.
*** Meningococcemia outbreak in the Dominican Republic: A highly contagious disease that can kill in less than 24 hours has stricken 14 and killed six (as of 3 May 1997), all within 35 miles of the capital, Santo Domingo. Meningococcemia is a blood disease related to meningitis, and it's spread by sneezing and coughing. Those afflicted sneeze constantly, and may also have a runny nose, fever and stiffness in the neck.
*** Researchers at the Lyme Disease Center at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey, are confident they have a vaccine for Lyme disease. Ticks pick up the bacteria when they feed on infected mice or deer, and then they transfer it to people when they bite a human. More than 12,000 cases were reported in 1996, mostly in the Northeast. Dr. Leonard Sigal says the vaccine is capable of preventing the disease in a large number of study patients, and it could be on the market in 1998.
*** There could be a need for it in 1997. New York State accounted for nearly one-third of the reported cases in 1996, and a state entomologist (insect expert) predict a bumper crop of infected ticks. It usually takes a cold, dry winter to kill them off, but this winter was neither. Tips to avoid infection: insect spray, light-colored clothes, cut down on exposed skin, and check your skin for ticks after walking through fields or woods. (Associated Press, 3 May 1997, 12 April, 7 April; Reuters, 13 April)
- Asthma caused by cockroaches: A major study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that cockroaches are the most common trigger of asthma in the inner city, responsible for an estimated one-quarter of cases. Cockroaches give off proteins that trigger strong allergic reactions, and children in roach-infested homes have the most severe cases of asthma. (Associated Press, 7 May 1997)
See the National Institutes of Health press release and the CNN story.
- Live longer. Live like a Mormon: Add years to your life by abstaining from the following: smoking, drugs, caffeine, and pre-marital or extra-marital sex. Mormons are taught to do this, and they live eight to twelve years longer than the general white population. A study by the University of California finds that Mormons who don't smoke or drink have one of the lowest death rates from cancer and cardiovascular diseases. And Mormons with a strong family life enjoy good health. (Associated Press, 28 April 1997)
- Hasbro fined over Microban claims: We've told you before about Hasbro's line of nine germ-killing Playskool toys, treated with the Microban process. The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the toymaker to retract the claims and pay a $120,000 fine. Hasbro claimed the antibacterial agent in the plastic stopped mold, mildew, fungi and bacteria, including E. coli, staph, salmonella and strep. The EPA says Microban inhibits bacterial growth in plastic, but it hasn't approved public health claims for humans. (Associated Press, 19 April 1997)
See the CNN story.
- Coffee's aroma has health benefits: Now when someone tells you to wake up and smell the coffee, they might be looking out for your health. A University of California-Davis chemist, Takayuki Shibamoto, was intrigued by coffee's popularity through the ages. So he started looking for its beneficial aspects, and he found potent cancer-fighting anti-oxidants among the chemicals that give java its aroma. He told the American Chemical Society that the coffee has to be fresh-brewed, because the chemicals disperse within about 20 minutes. (Associated Press, 14 April 1997)
- Mystery deaths in South Africa: It kept happening every Friday morning. Whoever went to bed in one certain hospital bed Thursday night would be dead the following morning. They ran tests for viruses. Everything came back negative. Finally, they solved the mystery -- it was the cleaner. Every Thursday night, she was unplugging the life-sustaining equipment next to that bed, so she could plug in her electric floor polisher. Reported in the October 1996 issue of "Indoor Air Review." (CBS Radio, 16 April 1997)
STB's News You Can Use! edited and written by --
Tom Connolly, for Infant Moose Web Page Creations.
Past newsletters: 2 May 1997 | 12 March 1997 | 2 March 1997 | 2 February 1997 | 19 January 1997 | 31 December 1996 | 6 December 1996 | 26 November 1996 | 13 November 1996 | 6 October 1996 | 28 September 1996 | 14 September 1996 | 7 September 1996 | 31 August 1996 | 24 August 1996 | 17 August 1996 | 9 August 1996 | 2 August 1996 | 25 July 1996 | 18 July 1996 | 11 July 1996 | 3 July 1996 | 26 June 1996 | 20 June 1996 | 12 June 1996 | 6 June 1996 | 31 May 1996 | 25 May 1996 | 16 May 1996 | 9 May 1996
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