http://http://www.kentucky.com/148/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2009 Kentucky.com Medicine 60 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:33:10 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench interactive-ops@herald-leader.com http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/858261.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/858261.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:32 EDT
This is not about a quick diet. Scientists have long known that they could increase the lifespan of mice and more primitive creatures with deep, long-term cuts from normal consumption.

Now comes the first evidence that such reductions delay the diseases of aging in primates, too rhesus monkeys living at the Wisconsin National Primate Center. Researchers reported their study Friday in the journal Science.

What about those other primates, humans? Nobody knows yet whether people could stand the deprivation long enough to make a difference, much less how it would affect our more complex bodies.

"What we would really like is not so much that people should live longer but that people should live healthier," said Dr. David Finkelstein of the National Institute on Aging. The Wisconsin monkeys seemed to do both.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/857082.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/857082.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:44 EDT
Some experts predict the percentage of such "medical abortions," which offer more privacy than surgical termination at an abortion clinic or hospital, will rise even more due to the new study.

The research, done at Planned Parenthood clinics across the country, shows that a new way of giving pills to induce abortion virtually eliminated the risk for a rare but dangerous infection.

"This is the first really huge documentation of how safe and effective medical abortion is," said Dr. Beverly Winikoff, a professor of family health and population at Columbia University. "The technology is very good and very well used in this country, and probably will be used more and more."

Two pills are used to induce an abortion. The primary drug, Mifeprex, was first approved in the U.S. in 2000. Use has risen steadily, even though manufacturer Danco Laboratories LLC of New York hasn't promoted it and the drug can be obtained only at a clinic or doctor's office, not through a pharmacy. Sales rose 16.5 percent last year, when about 184,000 American women used Mifeprex.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/857078.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/857078.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:34 EDT
The research touches on a fundamental question in medicine: Do genetic and biological factors contribute to African-Americans dying of cancer at higher rates than other patients? Or are the racial disparities wholly explainable by socioeconomic and cultural differences, such as income, access to health care and diet?

Published Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the study found that African-Americans were more likely than others to die of three gender-related cancers breast, prostate and ovarian even when they received the same advanced care from the same doctors. The researchers say the survival disparity persisted after they controlled for factors such as education and income.

This study found no statistical link between race and survival for lung cancer, colon cancer, lymphoma, leukemia or myeloma.

The findings suggest that African-Americans' lower survival rates for certain cancers are not entirely due to factors such as poverty and poor health care, said lead author Dr. Kathy Albain, a breast and lung cancer specialist for Loyola University Health System in Maywood, Ill. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/855910.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/855910.html Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:46 EDT
The potential government crackdown on acetaminophen, Tylenol's main ingredient, would affect everyone from occasional pill poppers to chronic pain sufferers who rely on daily doses to make their lives more bearable.

If adopted by the Food and Drug Administration, the changes would lower the maximum over-the-counter Tylenol dose and would ban two narcotic painkillers, Vicodin and Percocet, which also contain acetaminophen.

Yet another painkiller, propoxyphene, was the target of FDA action on Tuesday. Also sold as Darvon and in an acetaminophen combination called Darvocet, it has been linked to accidental overdoses and suicides. The prescription medication will now come with a pamphlet describing the risk.

Sharon Waldrop, a mother of two young boys in Royal Oak, Mich., takes Tylenol regularly for severe muscle pain. She knows about liver damage risks but says she "could not get by" with the proposed lower doses.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/854890.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/854890.html Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:19 EDT
She is in the right place this week: Whelan said her decision to pursue a career in medicine has been reinforced by her experience at the University of Kentucky's Summer Enrichment Camp for high schoolers interested in health care.

Whelan, a student at Scott County High School, is one of about 25 high school sophomores from across the state at the camp.

Campers live in UK dormitories and take anatomy, biology, chemistry and medical math classes, said Carlos Marin, health careers coordinator for the University of Kentucky's Area Health Education Center.

Students also shadow health care professionals and attend informal "lunch and learn" sessions with the deans of all the university's health science colleges, Marin said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/854749.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/854749.html Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:48 EDT
"I surprise my patients by asking, 'Is there anything else you want to talk about today?'" said Shriver, chief of a clinic near Seattle that is run by Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound. "They've never heard a doctor say that."

Shriver has the time because Group Health, one of the country's few surviving health insurance cooperatives, has recently embraced electronic medical records and a model of primary care that allow him to practice proactive medicine for the first time in years.

On Capitol Hill, those innovations have made Group Health a prototype for a political compromise that could unclog health care negotiations in the Senate and lead to a bipartisan deal. After a month of brainstorming, including briefings from Group Health executives, the Senate Finance Committee seems poised to propose private-sector insurance cooperatives instead of a new government health plan as its primary mechanism for stoking competition and slowing the growth of medical costs.

But state officials say Group Health's impact on holding down costs has been mixed. And its successes might have less to do with its governance by a board that is elected by patients than with its ownership of a vast network of clinics and specialty care centers.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/854719.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/854719.html Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:46 EDT
In most emergency rooms, the doctor would grill Mom: Has he ever been X-rayed? Do you remember what it showed? But in the new all-digital Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, doctors just clicked on a COW a "computer on wheels" that rolls to each patient's side. Up popped every test and X-ray the 6-month-old boy has ever had.

This is the eerily paperless hospital of the future the "electronic medical record" that President Barack Obama insists will transform the health care system.

No chart full of doctors' scribbles hanging on the bed. No hauling around envelopes full of X-rays. No discharge with a prescription slip. Even the classic ER patient list has changed from the white board of TV-drama fame to a giant computer screen.

By the best count, only 1.5 percent of the nation's roughly 6,000 hospitals use a comprehensive electronic record.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/853571.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/853571.html Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:54 EDT
Before her death late last month, at age 62, the actress had come to terms with the illness and agreed to have her suffering and treatment chronicled for a television documentary.

"She knew that she had the kind of anal cancer that she wasn't going to ultimately overcome, and decided to leave as much of a legacy of awareness as she possibly could," her physician, Dr. Lawrence Piro, said Tuesday before her funeral.

It is an unexpected legacy for Fawcett, whose feathered hair and electric smile once dominated TV screens. A sexy photo of her in a red swimsuit, taken in the 1970s, was the top-selling pinup of all time. Despite her fame and work as an entertainer, friends say she was protective of her privacy.

But she was stricken by anal cancer, a rarely discussed affliction with symptoms that are sometimes mistaken for hemorrhoids. After tabloids began reporting on her illness, her family acknowledged it and a friend produced Farrah's Story , a documentary aired in May that showed Fawcett's treatment and suffering.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/852920.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/852920.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:01 EDT
Interestingly, the brain's opioid receptors come into play not only to relieve pain, but also to modify stressful events, and to urge us toward behaviors that favor our survival, such as eating and sex. They do so by enhancing reward circuits in our brain, mediated by the chemical dopamine, whose release between brain cells causes us to feel pleasure.

This is one of the reasons it's so hard for so many of us to lose weight. Certain foods especially those highly palatable foods that taste great but are packed with calories activate the same pathways in our brain that the narcotic drugs do, the dopamine pathways. Eating sundaes and mashed potatoes makes us feel good, and this good feeling reinforces the behavior of eating sugary and fatty foods over and over, beyond our body's physical needs for those calories.

But why does our brain contain receptors for opioids in the first place? The answer is in our bodies' and brains' indomitable quest for survival. Special pathways exist in the brain that quickly take over whenever a threat to life or limb is perceived. These nerve circuits are supercharged pathways that can suppress rational, logical thoughts that move along slower pathways.

Facing an angry lioness protecting her cubs, or a speeding car that has jumped the median, our brains don't ponder the logistics of moving this way or that. We just act to get out of the way fast. Our brain's opioid pathways are highly activated in these flash decisions, to save our lives.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/852910.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/852910.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:00 EDT
The same marijuana smoke that doctors can recommend to ease cancer patients' suffering must soon come with a warning saying it causes the disease.

State environmental regulators last month voted to place marijuana smoke on its list of hundreds of substances known to cause cancer. The decision could lead to warning signs in medical marijuana dispensaries and labels on packaged pot within a year.

A voter-approved measure made medical marijuana legal in California in 1996. Key backers included patients with serious illnesses such as cancer and AIDS who said pot helped them manage pain and nausea.

Medical marijuana advocates sought to downplay the significance of the state's decision, arguing that researchers have long known that the smoke contains cancer-causing compounds.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/851033.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/851033.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:51 EDT
The results can be deadly.

Ultraviolet rays from the sun, smoking, harmful chemicals, moldy peanuts, certain diseases, genetic accidents and simply growing old can cause mutations, additions, subtractions, swaps and reversals that jumble the long strings of DNA that control a cell.

Even breathing can create mischief. As cells take in oxygen to make energy from food, hazardous byproducts are created that can corrupt DNA.

An injured cell can run amok, reproducing wildly and spreading through the body, causing cancer, blindness, anemia, premature aging or other misfortunes. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/849804.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/849804.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:05 EDT
It's time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news. In 31 states, more than one in four adults are obese, says a new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Kentucky has the 7th highest rate of adult obesity in the nation, at 29.0 percent and the 4th highest of overweight youths (ages 10-17) at 37.1 percent.

Obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year, and no state experienced a significant decline.

"The obesity epidemic clearly goes beyond being an individual problem," said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust, a nonprofit public health group.

It's a national crisis that "calls for a national strategy to combat obesity," added Robert Wood Johnson Vice President Dr. James Marks. "The crest of the wave of obesity is still to crash."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/849802.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/849802.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:50 EDT
The Louisville native was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a form of the disease that is usually found in children.

Spindler has learned to manage his disease with daily insulin injections, but he hopes his participation in a new research study could help keep his disease under control and possibly lead to a cure.

On Wednesday, Spindler received his third and final injection of what could be adult stem cells at the University of Kentucky Hospital, becoming the first person in Kentucky to receive the treatment, which is being tested in a clinical trial.

Spindler is the state's first participant in a national research project that is being conducted through Osiris Therapeutics, a company based in Maryland. Researchers are trying to determine whether injected adult stem cells can repair tissue damage and help the body produce insulin.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/848597.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/848597.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:41 EDT
The Food and Drug Administration assembled 37 experts to recommend ways to reduce deadly overdoses with acetaminophen, which is the leading cause of liver failure in the United States and sends 56,000 people to the emergency room annually. About 200 die each year.

"We're here because there are inadvertent overdoses with this drug that are fatal and this is the one opportunity we have to do something that will have a big impact," said Dr. Judith Kramer of Duke University Medical Center.

But over-the-counter cold medicines such as NyQuil and Theraflu that combine other drugs with acetaminophen can stay on the market, the panel said, rejecting a proposal to take them off store shelves.

The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panels, though it usually does. The agency gave no indication when it would act on the recommendations.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/848570.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/848570.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:49 EDT
In a study of 118 Australian men with damaged sperm, doctors found that having sex every day for a week significantly reduced the amount of DNA damage in their patients' sperm. Previous studies have linked better sperm quality to higher pregnancy rates.

The research was announced Tuesday at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam.

Dr. David Greening of Sydney IVF, a private fertility clinic in Australia, and colleagues looked at 118 men who had damaged sperm. Greening and colleagues told the men to have sex every day for a week. After seven days, the doctors found that in 81 percent of the men, there was a 12 percent decrease in the amount of damaged sperm.

Sperm quality can also be improved if men don't smoke, drink moderately, exercise, or get more antioxidants.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/848569.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/848569.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:49 EDT
One of medicine's secrets: Doctors often have to guess at which treatment or test is best for a certain patient. There's very little good scientific evidence comparing them. As part of the economic stimulus package, Congress set aside $1.1 billion to start figuring that out, so patients don't waste time and money on poor choices.

But where to start? Tuesday, the prestigious Institute of Medicine delivered a blueprint the 100 top priorities to study first.

"This program is a program about improving decisions for patients," said Dr. Harold Sox of the American College of Physicians, who co-chaired the IOM report.

Some of the questions might surprise patients and families. High on the list:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/847492.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/847492.html Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:46 EDT
"If we're right, that is what's going to stop Type 1 diabetes," said Dr. David Finegold as the blisters appeared one to match each of four shots.

It's a big "if." The research is in its infancy, a first-step experiment to be sure the vaccine approach is safe before researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh test their real target kids who have been newly diagnosed with this deadliest form of diabetes.

It's part of a big shift: Scientists increasingly hope to control Type 1 diabetes by curbing the rogue immune cells that cause it, before patients become dependent on daily insulin injections to survive.

"Treating at onset in children is the best chance we have," said Pittsburgh immunologist Dr. Massimo Trucco, whose novel vaccine made from patients' own blood is among a handful of possible immune therapies being tested around the country.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/846324.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/846324.html Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:52 EDT
Many other grants involve biological research unlikely to break new ground. For example, one project asks whether a laboratory discovery involving colon cancer also applies to breast cancer. But even if it does apply, there is no treatment yet that exploits it.

The cancer institute has spent $105 billion since President Richard Nixon declared war on the disease in 1971. The American Cancer Society, the largest private financier of cancer research, has spent about $3.4 billion on research grants since 1946.

Yet the fight against cancer is going more slowly than most had hoped, with only small changes in the death rate in the almost 40 years since it began.

One major impediment, scientists agree, is the grant system itself. It has become a sort of jobs program, a way to keep research laboratories going year after year with the understanding that the focus will be on small projects unlikely to take significant steps toward curing cancer.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/846293.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/846293.html Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:50 EDT
They could watch the disease progress as their patients declined mentally. But to see the illness in the brain, they could only wait until a patient died, then take a brain-tissue sample at autopsy and examine it for the tiny clumps of amyloid protein that are thought to be a hallmark of Alzheimer's.

No longer.

This month, the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging joined a handful of research centers around the county that are using a new PET scanning technique that allows scientists to observe amyloid in Alzheimer's patients who are alive. UK is the first in Kentucky to use the technique.

"When we did the first two patients ... to sit there and actually see images of amyloid in the brain of a living person for the first time in Kentucky ... to me, that was just amazing," said Dr. Gregory Jicha, a neurologist with Sanders-Brown who studies Alzheimer's.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/845461.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/845461.html Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:00 EDT
The White House is ramping up its behind-the-scenes lobbying of Congress. President Barack Obama is signaling that he could drop some key principles of his campaign if necessary to jump-start negotiations, opening the door to broad tax increases and a plan that could, he now concedes, push people into a government-run insurance program against their will. Senate Democrats also said last week that they were heading toward agreement again after a momentary stall.

"We have a lot of hard slogging to go, but ... I think that we are in good shape," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Thursday.

Republicans, too, concede that the Democrats who control Congress and the White House are back on track to push an overhaul into law.

"They're going to be pushing their version of reform through. And they probably will get it done by the end of the year," said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to be a bipartisan health care reform, or the kind that we've been proposing, because Democrats, quite literally, they have the votes."]]>