Flu season shows signs of leveling off

The number of states reporting heavy flu patient traffic is holding steady at 43

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/flu-season-shows-signs-leveling-off/

This flu season could become the worst in a decade

Is there any end in sight to this flu season? The CDC reported that 22 more children died this week – and 84 so far this season. CBS News’ chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook discusses the troubling numbers.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/this-flu-season-could-become-the-worst-in-a-decade/

Flu Season Shows First Signs of Slowing

There was also a slight drop in doctor visits for flu-like illness: 7.5 percent of patient  visits during the week ending Feb. 10, down from 7.7 percent of patient visits the week before.

From: https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20180216/flu-season-shows-first-signs-of-slowing?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Pets Good Medicine for Those Battling Mental Ills

Although furry companions won't replace medications or therapy for mental health concerns, they can provide significant benefits, according to British researchers.

From: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20180216/pets-good-medicine-for-those-battling-mental-ills?src=RSS_PUBLIC

In Shooting's Wake, 'Stop the Bleed' Kits Urged for Schools

Noting that it takes only 5 to 10 minutes for a gunshot victim to bleed to death, the American College of Surgeons has long pushed a nationwide program to train teachers simple but effective means of halting blood loss.

From: https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20180216/in-shootings-wake-stop-the-bleed-kits-urged-for-schools?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Kids With Sickle Cell Are Missing Out On Meds

Bacterial infections are a major health threat for children with sickle cell anemia, but taking daily antibiotics can reduce that risk by 84 percent, according to the study.

From: https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20180216/kids-with-sickle-cell-are-missing-out-on-meds?src=RSS_PUBLIC

How to Spare Family and Coworkers Your Flu Misery

Believe it or not, one expert says there are ways to stem the spread of sickness -- even if you can't avoid being around other people.

From: https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20180216/how-to-spare-family-and-coworkers-your-flu-misery?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Twenty-first Century Wellness with ADA Health Champions

Sun Life employees participate in one of our local Tour de Cure cycling events.

As the workplace continues to evolve, three of the our recent Health Champions are working to create modern-day solutions for their company wellness programs.

Sun Life Financial, headquartered in Wellesley, MA, has used its social media pages to share wellness messages. “With content support from the Association, we’ve been able to engage our employees in many health and fitness activities throughout the year,” commented Karen White, Assistant Vice President for Health Care and Exchange Solutions for Sun Life, and a member of Sun Life’s “diabetes ambassadors” group. “With companies continuing to spread out geographically and many of our employees working remotely, it’s so important that we find ways to keep our colleagues informed on health and wellness. Social media has been an excellent vehicle.”

Marsh & McLennan Agency in Atlanta recognizes that mindfulness is essential to reducing stress. “We have held these onsite Mindfulness-Based Stress Management workshops since 2015,” said Guy Morrison, Executive Vice President. “In 2017, we expanded this offering to remote staff through call-in and recorded sessions. Feedback from those who do participate has been very positive.”

Marsh & McLennan employees stay active together.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond has long embraced the more recent trend of onsite clinics, which allows employee access to medical staff and valuable wellness programming. “We offer smoking cessation support, individual health consultations, condition-specific workshops and many other wellness resources through our onsite clinic,” said Dr. Kevin Fergusson, Richmond Fed medical director.

The Richmond Fed also works with its disease management vendor to offer individual-based resources and counseling services for employees to improve their overall health, including areas of fitness, nutrition, prevention, emotional well-being, stress-management, diabetes, weight loss and heart health.

Marsh & McLennan Agency is focusing on another critical component of twenty-first century health care delivery: primary care. “Our philosophy is that a better approach to addressing preventive care is to promote that employees have a primary care physician (PCP) who is in the best position to identify and administer all age and gender-appropriate preventive care, including biometric measures and their associated risk factors,” commented Morrison.

Employees of the Richmond Fed enjoy onsite wellness opportunities.

Sun Life’s leadership is looking to the future of wellness, not just for their employees, but for all people with diabetes. In December, they took part in our Diabetes Innovation Summit in Boston, a one-day event looking to accelerate the ADA’s mission in the twenty-first century. “The group spent the day identifying opportunities to work together to advance technology solutions to address diabetes in workforce populations and the greater community” said White. “The future of diabetes support, management, education, and even prevention, is fast approaching, and we need to work together to develop solutions, both for individuals and group populations.”

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Thank you to our national sponsor, Sun Life Financial, a leader in employee benefits and stop-loss solutions in the U.S. As a National Sponsor of the Wellness Lives Here™ Health Champion Designation, Sun Life works with us to help raise awareness of the impact of diabetes and inspire employers to make a positive impact on the overall well-being of their employees—encouraging them to take action to prevent and control diabetes and empowering them to live a more active and healthy lifestyle.

From: American Diabetes Association http://diabetesstopshere.org/2018/02/16/twenty-first-century-wellness-with-ada-health-champions/

Mayo Clinic Minute: Are e-cigarettes safe?

From: Mayo Clinic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAsl9GY2FDo

Transgender Woman Able to Breast-Feed Infant

Doctors said the case shows "modest but functional lactation can be induced in transgender women," The Guardian newspaper in the U.K. reported.

From: https://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20180216/transgender-woman-able-to-breast-feed-infant?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Stem-cell transplant: A possible high-risk/high-reward treatment for scleroderma

Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling

Some medical news stories don’t get the attention they deserve. Perhaps it’s because the disease is rare and not many people have ever heard of it.

I think this story about a new treatment for scleroderma is a good example.

What’s scleroderma?

The term “scleroderma” means “hard skin.” The name comes from the way it causes thickening and hardening of the skin. With “limited scleroderma,” the disease is mostly confined to the skin. With the “systemic” form of disease, other major organs, including the digestive tract, lungs, heart, and kidneys, may be affected as well. It is considered an “autoimmune disease”; there is evidence that the immune system of people with scleroderma is abnormal and appears to be attacking its host.

Better treatments are needed

Since the disease was first described by Hippocrates around 400 bc, reliably effective treatments have been unavailable. Existing treatments include moisturizers, medications to prevent heartburn and to improve circulation, and immune-suppressing medications. However, despite treatment, many people continue to suffer with bothersome symptoms and life-threatening complications such as severe scarring of the lungs or kidney failure.

A new study of stem-cell transplantation for scleroderma

Researchers publishing in a recent edition of the New England Journal of Medicine describe a new approach to treating severe scleroderma: stem-cell transplantation. With this treatment, stem cells (which can develop into many different types of cells) are removed and the body’s immune system is essentially wiped out with chemotherapy and radiation. The stem cells are then returned to the body where they rebuild the immune system — a sort of “rebooting” of the immune system.

It’s risky, especially soon after treatment begins, because there is a period of time in which the immune system doesn’t function well enough to protect the person from infections. In this study, 36 people with severe scleroderma received stem-cell transplantation and were compared with 39 otherwise similar people who received a year of standard immune-suppressing medication.

After 4.5 years, those assigned to receive stem-cell transplantation had

• improved overall survival compared with standard treatment (79% vs. 50%)
• less need for immune-suppressing medication (9% vs. 44%)
• fewer deaths related to worsening scleroderma (11% vs. 28%)
• more deaths related to treatment — (3% vs. 0%).

These findings suggest that stem-cell transplantation may be much better than standard treatment for people with severe scleroderma even though it is riskier in the short run.

What’s next?

Despite these encouraging results, other researchers need to reproduce these findings with larger and longer-term trials. And even if confirmed, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Twenty-one percent of study subjects treated with stem-cell transplantation died within 5 years of treatment and treatment-related deaths were more common in this group. So, you can expect to hear about additional research that seeks to refine stem-cell transplantation and other treatment approaches for scleroderma.

Scleroderma remains a mysterious and sometimes deadly disease despite decades of research.  So, you can also expect researchers to report on new findings regarding how and why it develops in the first place. In addition, stem-cell transplantation would not be appropriate for less severe cases of scleroderma; we need better treatments for them as well.

News such as this represents progress for a condition that badly needs it. While you may not have heard much about this study in the news, it’s certainly one that will catch the attention of people with scleroderma, their loved ones, and their doctors.

The post Stem-cell transplant: A possible high-risk/high-reward treatment for scleroderma appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

From: Robert H. Shmerling, MD https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/stem-cell-transplant-scleroderma-2018021613294

World leaders join new drive to beat noncommunicable diseases

WHO is announcing today a new high-level commission, comprised of heads of state and ministers, leaders in health and development and entrepreneurs. The group will propose bold and innovative solutions to accelerate prevention and control of the leading killers on the planet – noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like heart and lung disease, cancers, and diabetes.

The WHO Independent Global High-level Commission on NCDs is co-chaired by President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay; President Maithripala Sirisena of Sri Lanka; President Sauli Niinistö of Finland; Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Healthcare of the Russian Federation; and Sania Nishtar, former Federal Minister of Pakistan.

From: http://www.who.int/entity/mediacentre/news/releases/2018/world-leaders-ncds/en/index.html