03/30/16

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Study: Longer-Term Antibiotics Won't Ease 'Chronic Lyme Disease'

Dutch trial is latest to show no benefit from extended treatment, but finding unlikely to end the controversy

From: http://www.webmd.com/arthritis/news/20160330/study-longer-term-antibiotics-wont-ease-chronic-lyme-disease?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Doctors Report Groundbreaking HIV-to-HIV Organ Transplants

One donor supplied a kidney to one patient and a liver to another patient

From: http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/news/20160330/doctors-report-groundbreaking-hiv-to-hiv-organ-transplants?src=RSS_PUBLIC

FDA eases some restrictions on abortion pill

New FDA labeling rules will make it easier for women seeking to end a pregnancy with prescription drug

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-eases-restrictions-on-abortion-pill-mifeprex/

Vivitrol Cuts Relapse Risk in Opioid Addicts

A once-monthly injection called Vivitrol appears to cut the risk of relapse in half for opioid addicts, at least while they get the shots.

From: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20160330/vivtrol-cuts-relapse-risk-opioid-addicts?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Beans, Chickpeas May Help With Weight Loss

'Pulses' like these may help dieters feel fuller and reduce food cravings, new analysis shows

From: http://www.webmd.com/diet/20160330/beans-chickpeas-may-help-with-weight-loss-study?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Famous people with bipolar disorder

On World Bipolar Awareness Day, a look at famous people with bipolar disorder

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/famous-people-celebrities-bipolar/

First HIV-positive transplants offer patients new hope

Johns Hopkins surgeons successfully transplanted two organs from an HIV-positive patient to two patients with the virus

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/first-hiv-positive-liver-transplant-offers-new-hope-for-patients/

Medical community battles infectious celebrity health claims

Controversy over an anti-vaccination documentary pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival is the latest episode of scientists fighting questionable health claims promoted by celebrities

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/medical-community-is-fighting-a-new-germ-celebrities/

Types of Neuroendocrine Tumors and Their Symptoms

WebMD explains what symptoms neuroendocrine tumors can cause and shows you how to find out whether you have one.

From: http://www.webmd.com/cancer/features/neuroendocrine-tumors-types-symptoms?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Take Care of Yourself With Neuroendocrine Tumors

WebMD explains how the right lifestyle -- including diet and exercise -- can help you feel better when you have neuroendocrine tumors (NETs).

From: http://www.webmd.com/cancer/features/neuroendocrine-tumors-self-care?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs): Treatment Options

WebMD describes the treatments for neuroendocrine tumors, including surgery, medication, radiation, and hormone therapy.

From: http://www.webmd.com/cancer/features/neuroendocrine-tumors-treatments?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Lab and Imaging Tests for Neuroendocrine Tumors

WebMD explains the scans or blood tests doctors use to diagnose neuroendocrine tumors (NETs).

From: http://www.webmd.com/cancer/features/neuroendocrine-tumors-tests?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Study: Mechanism Between Zika Virus, Birth Defects

Protein on fetal stem cells provides pathway for Zika; discovery might lead to infection-blocking drugs, researchers say

From: http://www.webmd.com/news/20160330/study-explores-mechanism-between-zika-virus-birth-defects?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Caregivers Often Sacrifice for Alzheimer's Costs

Many skip food and health care, cut back work hours or quit jobs to care for loved ones, survey shows

From: http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20160330/caregivers-often-give-up-necessities-to-cover-alzheimers-costs?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Study Asks, What Is a 'Good Death'?

Discussions must go way beyond treatments and deal with the patient's sense of peace, experts say

From: http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20160330/study-asks-what-is-a-good-death?src=RSS_PUBLIC

How to Find Out About Your Hospital's Performance

WebMD explains how to judge which hospital is the best one to choose for your medical situation.

From: http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/all-about-surgery-15/compare-hospitals?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Mayo Clinic Minute: Out of Shape Kids and Diabetes

From: Mayo Clinic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO6EAzv9cUI

Why this spring is a perfect storm for allergies

Three big factors are contributing to a longer and more miserable allergy season, but there are ways to fight back

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-this-spring-is-a-perfect-storm-for-allergies/

Measles case shuts down California elementary school

The school is located in an area with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/measles-case-shuts-down-california-school-in-area-with-low-vaccination-rate/

25 Legends: Hillary Liber

This year marks the 25^th anniversary of two American Diabetes Association^® signature fundraising events—Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes^® and Tour de Cure^®.

Every dollar raised at these events supports people living with diabetes and funds our life-changing research and programs.

The “25 Legends” blog series highlights personal stories from some of the Association’s most dedicated walkers and riders who live with the disease.

I am turning 63 years old this month and I currently live in San Diego. I have been living
with type 1 diabetes for 25 years.

When I was first diagnosed, I was terrified. My doctor recognized my fear, held my hands in his and asked me what scared me. I told him about my two uncles who had type 1 diabetes. The first was blind and had both of his legs amputated from his knees down. The other died in his 40s. I knew them when they were once just like me—healthy and full of life.

I wondered if their fate would be mine. My doctor promised me it would not, and he was right! All these years later, my only complication has been cataracts.

The American Diabetes Association helped me get through many things, including understanding the differences and similarities between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. They also taught me about insulin pumps and helped me switch from eight injections a day to two pump insertions a week.

The Association is helping everyone manage their diabetes on a daily basis. They support our loved ones with education, family activities and camp programs, and funding leading-edge research in diabetes prevention, treatment and probable cures. It’s my goal to help others the way the Association helped me.

I began walking in Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes in 1995 and was proud to raise $750! My team, Hillary’s Havurah, has been supporting me for the past 18 years. “Havurah” in Hebrew means fellowship and coming together for a purpose—in this case, to Stop Diabetes. Each year, I send out 700 letters and 400 emails, and together we raise an average of $15,000. In our best year, we topped $20,000!

Our fundraising goal is always $18,000 because 18 in Hebrew is “Chai,” which means life. We like to say, “We saved 1,000 lives.” Our Step Out team wants a world that is diabetes free, so we work every day to Stop Diabetes! Whether it’s through advocating in our communities and government, educating everyone we meet or raising funds, we support the Association’s great work.

Please join us at a Step Out event! We want you to push us out of the No. 1 fundraising spot in San Diego! It takes sincere effort and lots of dedication, but you can do it.

Unfortunately as many as 1 in 3 American adults will have diabetes by 2050 if present
trends continue. Everyone knows someone with diabetes, and everyone wants to fight it. So just ask them to contribute and provide them the opportunity to help!

Together, we CAN Stop Diabetes.

The Association is so grateful of our 25 Legends! Their tireless efforts as walkers and riders are a tremendous support and inspiration to people with diabetes.

Sign up today! Learn more about these events and find out how to get involved at diabetes.org/stepout and diabetes.org/tourdecure.

From: American Diabetes Association http://diabetesstopshere.org/2016/03/30/25-legends-hillary-liber/

How useful is the body mass index (BMI)?

Do you know your BMI? Increasingly, people know theirs, just as they know their cholesterol.

If you don’t know your BMI, you can use a BMI calculator available online, including this one at Harvard Health Publications. All you need is your height and weight. Or, you can calculate it yourself, using this formula:

BMI = (Weight in Pounds x 703) / (Height in inches x Height in inches).

So, now that you know your BMI, is it worth knowing? What are you going to do with it?

What your BMI means

To understand what your BMI means, it’s useful to take a step back and understand what it’s measuring and why it’s measured.

BMI is a calculation of your size that takes into account your height and weight. A number of years ago, I remember using charts that asked you to find your height along the left side and then slide your finger to the right to see your “ideal weight” from choices listed under small, medium, or large “frame” sizes.

These charts came from “actuarial” statistics, calculations that life insurance companies use to determine your likelihood of reaching an advanced age based on data from thousands of people. These charts were cumbersome to use, and it was never clear how one was to decide a person’s “frame size.”

BMI does something similar — it expresses the relationship between your height and weight as a single number that is not dependent on “frame size.” Although the origin of the BMI is over 200 years old, it is fairly new as a measure of health.

What’s a normal BMI?

A normal BMI is between18.5 and 25; a person with a BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight; and a person with a BMI over 30 is considered obese. A person is considered underweight if the BMI is less than 18.5.

As with most measures of health, BMI is not a perfect test. For example, results can be thrown off by pregnancy or high muscle mass, and it may not be a good measure of health for children or the elderly.

So then, why does BMI matter?

In general, the higher your BMI, the higher the risk of developing a range of conditions linked with excess weight, including:

diabetes
arthritis
liver disease
several types of cancer (such as those of the breast, colon, and prostate)
high blood pressure (hypertension)
high cholesterol
sleep apnea.

Current estimates suggest that up to 365,000 excess deaths due to obesity occur each year in the U.S. In addition, independent of any particular disease, people with high BMIs often report feeling better, both physically and psychologically, once they lose excess weight.

And here’s why BMI may not matter

It’s important to recognize that BMI itself is not measuring “health” or a physiological state (such as resting blood pressure) that indicates the presence (or absence) of disease. It is simply a measure of your size. Plenty of people have a high or low BMI and are healthy and, conversely, plenty of folks with a normal BMI are unhealthy. In fact, a person with a normal BMI who smokes and has a strong family history of cardiovascular disease may have a higher riskof early cardiovascular death than someone who has a high BMI but is a physically fit non-smoker.

And then there is the “obesity paradox.” Some studies have found that despite the fact that the risk of certain diseases increases with rising BMI, people actually tend to live longer, on average, if their BMI is a bit on the higher side.

Should we stop giving so much “weight” to BMI?

That’s exactly what’s being asked in the discussion generated by a new study. For this study, researchers looked at how good the BMI was as a single measure of cardiovascular health and found that it wasn’t very good at all:

Nearly half of those considered overweight by BMI had a healthy “cardiometabolic profile,” including a normal blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar.
About a third of people with normal BMI measures had an unhealthy cardiometabolic profile.

The authors bemoaned the “inaccuracy” of the BMI. They claim it translates into mislabeling millions of people as unhealthy and also overlooking millions of others who are actually unhealthy, but are considered “healthy” by BMI alone.

Actually, this should come as no surprise. BMI, as a single measure, would not be expected to identify cardiovascular health or illness; the same is true for cholesterol, blood sugar, or blood pressure as a single measure. And while cardiovascular health is important, it’s not the only measure of health! For example, this study did not consider conditions that might also be relevant to an individual with an elevated BMI, such as liver disease or arthritis.

Bottom line

As a single measure, BMI is clearly not a perfect measure of health. But it’s still a useful starting point for important conditions that become more likely when a person is overweight or obese. In my view, it’s a good idea to know your BMI. But it’s also important to recognize its limitations.

The post How useful is the body mass index (BMI)? appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

From: Robert Shmerling, MD http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-useful-is-the-body-mass-index-bmi-201603309339

USDA Announces $5.2 Million For Nanotechnology Research

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2016 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced an investment of more than $5.2 million to support nanotechnology research at 11 universities. The universities will research ways nanotechnology can be used to improve food safety, enhance renewable fuels, increase crop yields, manage agricultural pests, and more. The awards were made through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the nation's premier competitive, peer-reviewed grants program for fundamental and applied agricultural sciences.

From: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2016/03/0078.xml&contentidonly=true

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