09/29/16

Thursday, September 29, 2016

HPV vaccine works better than expected, study finds

Even without all 3 of the recommended doses, it offers protection against cervical cancer, a large new study shows

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hpv-vaccine-works-even-better-than-expected-study-finds/

It's time to get your flu shot, health officials urge

Here's what you need to know about this year's flu vaccine

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/time-to-get-your-flu-shot-what-you-should-know-about-this-years-vaccine/

Flagging Flu-Shot Rate Worries CDC

Decline among vulnerable older adults is of particular concern

From: http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20160929/flagging-flu-shot-rate-worries-cdc?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Making Mayo's Recipes: Tomato Basil Pesto Sauce

From: Mayo Clinic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6QjICm3dMI

Woman's mystery pain solved after object found inside her

A "huge" piece of surgical equipment had been left behind by doctors after a medical procedure

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mysterious-pain-solved-after-surgical-tool-discovered-inside-her/

Dental emergency? Researchers develop an app for that

Count dental emergencies among the many issues that a smartphone application may one day help resolve, research published in the October issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association suggests.

From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/october/dental-emergency-researchers-develop-an-app-for-that

Can eating too much sugar cause type 2 diabetes?

A new study offers fresh insights into a long-debated issue – whether too much sugar in our diets can lead to diabetes

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sugar-can-too-much-cause-type-2-diabetes/

HPV Vaccine More Effective Than Thought: Study

Prevents lesions that could cause cervical cancer by 50 percent, researchers say

From: http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/hpv-genital-warts/news/20160929/hpv-vaccine-more-effective-than-thought-study?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Discrimination and negative attitudes about ageing are bad for your health

New analysis by WHO shows that negative or ageist attitudes towards older people are widespread. They also negatively affect older people’s physical and mental health.

From: http://www.who.int/entity/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/discrimination-ageing-youth/en/index.html

USDA Announces $8.4 Million to Support Minority and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2016 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $8.4 million in grants that will be used by organizations in 24 states to provide training, outreach and technical assistance for socially disadvantaged, tribal and veteran farmers and ranchers.

From: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2016/09/0207.xml&contentidonly=true

Man may have gotten Zika from dying father's tears

The father, who also had cancer, carried 100,000 times the normal level of the Zika virus, medical experts report

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/utah-man-may-have-contracted-zika-from-dying-fathers-tears-sweat/

Zika Funding Approval: What Does This Mean?

Mosquito season may be ending in parts of the U.S., but public health officials say the additional resources will make a difference because the threat will not be measured in one cycle but in years.

From: http://www.webmd.com/news/20160929/congress-finally-approves-funding-to-fight-zika--but-what-does-this-mean?src=RSS_PUBLIC

From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/october

WHO presser

From: World Health Organization http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r30R7xyl4Rc

2nd Antibiotic Halves C-Section Infection Rate

Two medications are better than one, researchers say

From: http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20160929/2nd-antibiotic-halves-c-section-infection-rate-study?src=RSS_PUBLIC

High BP Might Affect Some Kids' Thinking Ability

But researchers noted that all of the children still tested within normal ranges

From: http://www.webmd.com/children/news/20160929/high-blood-pressure-might-affect-some-kids-thinking-ability?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Nevada investigators seeking ID of woman Dentists asked to review radiographs

Police are seeking dentists’ help in identifying a woman.

From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/september/nevada-investigators-seeking-id

'The Pill' May Raise Depression Risk

Study also ties hormonal patches, IUDs to greater antidepressant use, especially in teens

From: http://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/news/20160928/the-pill-may-raise-depression-risk?src=RSS_PUBLIC

FDA Asks Public: What Is 'Healthy Food'?

Agency seeks input from Americans on defining what is considered nutritious

From: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20160928/fda-asks-public-what-is-healthy-food?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Hot Flashes, Mood Woes?

Study found women who believed they had frequent episodes at night more likely to be mildly depressed

From: http://www.webmd.com/menopause/news/20160928/hot-flashes-mood-woes?src=RSS_PUBLIC

A Happy Spouse May Keep You Healthy

Your husband or wife can encourage good lifestyle habits, researchers say

From: http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/news/20160928/a-happy-spouse-may-keep-you-healthy?src=RSS_PUBLIC

25 Legends: Laura Nolan

This year marks the 25th 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 are affected by the disease.

Summer 1973: I had just finished the eighth grade. I was a little nervous but very excited at the prospect of starting high school and a new chapter in my life. But little did I know just how much my life was going to change over the next few months.

Ever since I was a young adult, I have always spent a great deal of time outdoors. I especially loved going on walks and bike rides with my dad because they felt like a fun adventure. Suddenly, however, they became a different kind of adventure—as we needed to search for places to stop so I could quench my ever-increasing thirst and go to the bathroom.

My life at home was also changing for the worse. It seemed like all I did was drink ice water, run to the bathroom and sit around completing crossword puzzles. I quickly lost weight and ran out of energy. When my parents finally called my pediatrician on June 26, he thought the symptoms were related to my asthma. But later that day, I slipped into a coma.

I remember hearing the emergency room doctors tell my parents that I might die—my blood glucose was 1,500 and I was extremely sick. I wanted so badly to tell my parents that I could hear them and I would be okay, but I could not speak. When I awoke from the coma the next morning, I found out that I had type 1 diabetes. I was told I would have this disease the rest of my life. I would have to take insulin injections because my body could no longer produce insulin. I was terrified.

Five years later, I began nursing school and was still relatively unfamiliar with diabetes, despite having lived with it for a while. The program taught me not only how to help others with the disease, but also how to improve my own diabetes management. In March 1980, I started using an insulin pump and, within three weeks, I found my passion in helping others begin pump therapy. Since finishing nursing school and becoming a certified diabetes educator, I have placed thousands of patients on insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors. Watching the technology improve their lives, like it did mine, was amazing.

Over the course of my life, I have worked for multiple hospitals and for Medtronic Diabetes, and I’ve owned my own business—ABC Diabetes Consultants—which offers diabetes education programs. I have also volunteered extensively with the American Diabetes Association Phoenix office.

Laura, center, with Pump Squad walkers Joan and Grace.

I discovered Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes in 1991 and immediately reached out to my family, friends and colleagues to create a team. We originally called ourselves the Valley Insulin Pumpers, followed by Control Diabetes and Wacky Walkers. In 2001, however, my daughter (who was 12 years old at the time) proposed Pump Squad in honor of my insulin pump and those of my patients walking with us. Pump Squad has remained the team name for the past 15 years.

Pump Squad has been recognized as a Top 10 Fundraiser multiple times in my region. Last year, we raised over $9,000. In addition, three of us were Champion fundraisers—raising over $1,000 each. I am very grateful for my family, friends and patients for coming out to the walk each year.

Participating in the walks inspired me to join my local office’s Speakers Bureau, Diabetes EXPO Volunteer Committee and Step Out Planning Committee—all while working as a nurse and diabetes educator. Finally, I volunteered at Camp AZDA in Prescott, Ariz., for eight years. Watching children and young adults adjust to life with diabetes and support one another is a truly rewarding experience.

Although diabetes is difficult to live with, it has made me a better, stronger person. If it were not for diabetes, I may not have pursued a career in nursing or diabetes education—or found a supportive community. Each year, watching my Pump Squad walk to help others affected by diabetes makes me so proud. My daughter, who is now 27 years old, recently reminded me that I used to take her in a stroller during the first several walks. Neither of us can believe we have participated for 24 years. As I write out my donations request letter for the 25^th time, I am more motivated than ever to help others with diabetes and to find a cure.

Together, we CAN Stop Diabetes.

The Association is so grateful for 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/2016/09/29/25-legends-laura-nolan/

Treating the primary tumor can improve survival in men whose prostate cancer has spread

New research has shaken up a time-honored strategy for treating advanced prostate cancer that’s begun to metastasize, or spread. Doctors ordinarily treat these cases with systemic therapies designed to kill off metastatic tumors appearing throughout the body. But they don’t use local therapy to treat the primary tumor in the prostate. That’s because the primary tumor — unlike the metastases that it spawns — is rarely lethal. So doctors have been reluctant to give local therapy, such as radiation to the prostate or surgery to remove the organ, if it’s not going to improve the odds of survival.

Now investigators are turning that assumption on its head. According to their findings, men who received local therapy while being treated for metastatic prostate cancer lived longer than those who didn’t, “and that makes a case for being more aggressive in how we manage patients who present with metastatic disease,” said Dr. Chad Rusthoven, a radiation oncologist and assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, and the study’s first author.

Looking back

Rusthoven and his colleagues scoured eight years of data collected by a national cancer registry between 2004 and 2014. Their retrospective study identified 6,382 men who had metastatic prostate cancer at initial diagnosis. All the men were treated with systemic androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for metastatic prostate cancer, but 538 of them were also treated with local radiation to the prostate. At just over five years of follow-up, on average the men who got local therapy had a median overall survival of 55 months compared to 37 months among those who did not. In addition, 49% of the men who were treated with both ADT and local radiation lived for five years compared to 33% of the men who got ADT alone.

Should the findings be confirmed in studies that monitor survival forward in time, “then standard therapy for metastatic prostate cancer will shift to a comprehensive strategy that includes control of the primary tumor,” said Dr. Ana Aparicio, a medical oncologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who was not involved in the study.

Why this approach might work

Aparicio said that treating the primary tumor makes sense for several reasons: First, since men now live with metastatic disease for longer than they used to, they’re more likely to develop symptoms— pain, urinary obstruction, and infections — that can be controlled with local treatment. Furthermore, mounting evidence suggests that tumors in the prostate release chemical and biological substances that promote the cancer’s spread.

Still, Rusthoven and Aparicio both emphasized that local treatments should only be given to men participating in a clinical trial. Local therapy can have significant side effects, “and moreover we need a better understanding of who benefits from the treatment most,” Aparicio said. Her team at MD Anderson is currently enrolling patients for a clinical trial that provides standard systemic therapy for metastatic disease to one group of patients, and ADT combined with either local radiation or surgery to remove the prostate to another.

Rusthoven said he would only give local therapy outside of a clinical trial to a “select group of young patients with limited metastatic burden who are interested in maximally aggressive therapy and who clearly understand the risks and benefits of that approach.”

“This study suggests a different and very novel way of thinking about how to manage men who present with metastatic prostate cancer,” said Dr. Marc Garnick, the Gorman Brothers Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and editor in chief of HarvardProstateKnowledge.org. “There are other cancers where treating the primary cancer in the setting of metastatic disease has been associated with improvements — and this study provides an important impetus to consider this option both in the context of clinical studies and individualized patient selection.”

The post Treating the primary tumor can improve survival in men whose prostate cancer has spread appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

From: Charlie Schmidt http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/treating-the-primary-tumor-can-improve-survival-in-men-whose-prostate-cancer-has-spread-2016092910383

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