A report in the May issue of the journal Pediatrics warns that many young athletes, ranging form thin, graceful gymnasts to stocky, powerful wrestlers, are endangering their health by going to extremes to control their weight. Many develop eating disorders and risk long-term health problems by resorting to overexercise, unhealthy dieting techniques, vomiting, fasting, diuretics, laxatives and other drugs. AP 5/14/96
People will soon be able to take an HIV blood test in the privacy of their home using a new blood collection kit approved recently by the Food and Drug Administration.
The kit will enable patients to take their blood sample at home, send it to a laboratory and then receive the results by telephone. Until now, all blood sampling for HIV tests had to be done at clinics, hospitals or doctors' offices. AP 5/14/96
A report in the May 27th issue of Fortune Magazine doesn't spell out a pretty picture for the current Medicare system. According to the article, there is an imminent risk for bankruptcy of the trust fund dedicated to paying hospital bills within a 5 year time period. Further, the article states that a big reason for this coming crisis is that more Americans than expected have been entering the hospital.
Benefits paid out from 1990 to 1995 surged 73% to $113 billion, while the payroll taxes that finance the fund grew only 40%, to $96 billion. Overall, Medicare will account for 11% of the federal spending this year, on its way to 14% in the year 2002, according to the the Clinton Administration's 1997 budget projections.
The solution? There doesn't appear to be an easy one. Many health-policy experts want to reform Medicare by inducing beneficiaries to join managed-care programs. Also being considered is an increase in Medicare's eligibility to age 70, from the current age of 65, and charging higher premiums to upper-income beneficiaries. Fortune Magazine 5/27/96
A new study, reported in the May issue of The American Journal of Epidemiology, states that women who smoke run a greater risk of developing breast cancer. However, the AP report states that experts want to see more work done before determinging whether the findings are conclusive.
According to the AP report, the study found that women who smoked less than 10 cigarettes a day doubled their risk of getting breast cancer; futher, women who didn't smoke, but were exposed to passive smoke, tripled their risk of getting breast cancer. AP 5/12/96
A new study offers hope that self-hypnosis and relaxation techniques could help children reduce the frequency and pain of migraines. The six month study found that the activation of mast cells -- which, according to this AP report, trigger migraines -- declined significantly in nine of 11 children who mastered the techniques suggested in the study. AP 5/9/96
Yielding a possible clue to what causes post-traumatic stress disorder, a study of Vietnam veterans found that a particular brain structure was smaller in men with more combat exposure. The size difference was seen in the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory and some other functions. AP 5/7/96
According to the National Cancer Institute, the breast cancer death rate for American women continues to decline. From 1989 to 1993, the most recent period for which data are available, the breast cancer mortality rate for American women dropped 5 percent, from 27.5 per 100,000 women to 25.9 per 100,000 women. AP 5/7/96
Research with monkeys found that a hormone related to one used in popular injectable contraceptive drugs dramatically inreased the risk of vaginal infection by an AIDS-like virus. When progesterone was injected into these monkeys, their risk of AIDS infection became seven times more likely. It is unknown whether oral contraceptives containing progesterone produce the same effects as these injections. However, the estrogen in these oral formulations may help to offset the results from the injected samples. Readers are urged to review other journal sources for documented contraindications to progesterone/estrogen formulations. Obviously, the important point in all of these studies is for all parties to practice safe sex. AP 5/6/96
A recent study from Switzerland has suggested that both active and passive exposure to tobacco smoke can triple a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. The article also presents opposing views to this research. NY Times 5/5/96
Many adults are still in the dark about melanoma -- the deadliest form of skin cancer -- and the role severe childhood sunburn can play in its development, a survey found.
The survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Dermatology found that among adults over 18, about 50 percent of men and 35 percent of women did not recognize the term melanoma, which is caused by excessive exposure to the sun.
Some facts about melanoma:
Malignant melanoma can spread to other parts of the body quickly, but when caught early is highly curable.
Melanomas often start as small, mole-like growths that increase in size, change color, become ulcerated and bleed easily from slight injury.
The "ABCD" rule outlines the warning signs of melanoma:
A: Assymetry. One half of the mole does not match the other half.
B: Border Irregularity. The edges are ragged, notched or blurred.
C: Color. The pigmentation is not uniform.
D: Diameter. Greater than 6 millimeters, or about a quarter-inch. Any sudden or progressive increase in size should be of particular concern.
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Source: American Cancer Society AP 5/2/96
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first new anti-obesity drug in 22 years Monday, a controversial medicine that essentially fools patients into feeling full so they lose weight.
Dexfenfluramine won FDA approval over the objections of consumer advocates and some doctors, who fear it could cause brain damage or a rare but dangerous lung disorder.
Dexfenfluramine patients lost an average total of just 7.5 pounds more than dieters who didn't take the drug, said a member of the patient advocacy group Public Citizen. Dexfenfluramine should be used only under a doctor's close supervision because of the risk of primary pulmonary hypertension, a rare but sometimes fatal disorder, a member of the FDA said. AP 4/29/96
A gene that was recently linked to excitability in people may also play a role in a childhood disorder marked by hyperactivity, inattention and impulsiveness, a study suggests.
The condition, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is estimated to occur in 3 percent to 5 percent of elementary school children. AP 4/30/96
Middle-aged women who ate a lot of red meat were more likely than those who ate a little to develop a certain type of lymph cancer, a study in Iowa found. The study's authors cautioned against overemphasizing the results. Studies of red meat and lymphoma have yielded conflicting findings. A study in Italy found a link. A study in Nebraska by the National Cancer Institute did not. The study is reported in this week's The Journal of the American Medical Association. AP 4/30/96
Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate say they are determined to give President Clinton legislation that would assure workers who lose or switch jobs an opportunity to buy health insurance. However, differences in the two bills exist. Stay tuned for more. AP 4/23/96
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control stated that Secondhand tobacco smoke invades the lungs of about 88 percent of America's nonsmokers, despite the declining use of tobacco and increased efforts to set aside smoke-free zones in restaurants and offices. The survey found that all but about eight out of every 100 people in the United States are exposed to tobacco smoke daily. AP 4/23/96
According to a report issued this past Saturday by the private Worldwatch Institute, illness and death from tuberculosis, malaria, dengue fever and AIDS are up sharply and "infectious diseases killed 16.5 million in 1993, one-third of all deaths worldwide and slightly more than cancer and heart disease combined."
Worldwatch recommendations to recapturing the advantage in battling infectious diseases included:
--Greater priority for basic public health measures and funding of immunization, sanitation, pollution control, checking of sexually transmitted diseases, outreach and education.
--Global monitoring of infectious diseases as urged by the 1995 World Health Assembly.
--Implementation of the U.N. Cairo conference program on slowing population growth and the Rio convention on curbing emission of greenhouse gases. AP 4/21/96
According to the April 23rd issue of PC Magazine, The Boza Virus (the computer variety of virus's) is attacking the Windows 95 environment. Surf Here for an Update!