Harvard Health Content API

Long-term exposure to lead may increase the risk of death from heart and artery disease, a study shows. The study included 868 male veterans. Their average age was 67 when the study began. Researchers measured lead in their knee and shin bones. During the 9-year study, 241 men died. Men with the most lead in their bones were six times more likely to die from heart attack, stroke and related conditions than those with the lowest amount of lead. Their risk of death from any case was 2.5 times as high as for men with low lead levels. Current U.S. standards for excess lead exposure are based on lead in blood. But lead remains much longer in bones — perhaps as long as decades. Researchers said current standards probably need to change. The study appeared in the journal Circulation. HealthDay News wrote about it September 8.

Non-drug therapies can help to relieve pain in hospital patients after surgery, a new study suggests. The study included 1,837 patients who had surgery at a hospital. They were given various treatments for pain. The treatments included acupuncture, acupressure, massage, music or aroma therapy, reflexology, healing touch and therapies to help them relax. They were asked to score their pain before and after treatment. The score range was 0 to 10. Researchers said the non-drug treatments reduced pain by up to half in some people. The study appeared March 5 in the Journal of Patient Safety.

Children need twice as much vitamin D as previously recommended, their doctors now say. The new advice came from the American Academy of Pediatrics. This is the nation’s largest group of children’s doctors. The group said kids should receive 400 units of vitamin D daily. This includes even breastfed infants. Most kids will need a supplement to provide this much vitamin D. The doctors based their advice on new research. These studies suggest that the vitamin may help prevent diseases as well as keep bones strong. The Associated Press wrote about the new advice October 13.

A salmonella outbreak involving large tomatoes and roma tomatoes has hit people in 17 states. At least 23 people were hospitalized, and one tomato eater died. The Associated Press reported on the outbreak June 10.

Drinking green tea may reduce the risk of lung cancer in both smokers and nonsmokers, new research suggests. The study was done in Taiwan. It included 170 people with lung cancer and 340 healthy people. They were asked questions about their diet, tea drinking and smoking. They also were given gene tests. People with some variations in their genes are more likely to develop lung cancer than others. In the study, lung cancer risk was 13 times lower for smokers who drank at least one cup of green tea daily than for smokers who drank none. Nonsmokers’ risk of lung cancer was five times lower among tea drinkers. Tea drinkers with “low-risk” genes were even less likely to have lung cancer. Researchers said the best way to prevent lung cancer is to avoid smoking. The study was presented at a conference on lung cancer. HealthDay News wrote about it January 12.

People exposed to pesticides at work have a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease, a study has found. The study compared two groups of more than 500 people each. They were similar in age and in other ways. But one group had Parkinson’s disease and the other did not. People who were exposed to pesticides on the job had an 80% higher rate of Parkinson’s disease. This means there were 18 people with job exposure who had Parkinson’s disease for every 10 people with no job exposure who had the disease. The risk of Parkinson’s disease was more than triple the average for people exposed to one of three chemicals. They were Agent Orange, paraquat and permethrin. The study appeared in the journal Archives of Neurology. Reuters Health news service wrote about it September 14.

A new study has found no clear increased risk of suicide or depression from a drug that helps people quit smoking. U.S. labels for varenicline (Chantix) warn that it could increase the risk of behavior changes. Depression, thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts are among the changes listed. The study used a database of 80,660 people. All had been prescribed a product to help them quit smoking. Nearly 11,000 used varenicline. Researchers found no clear increased risk of suicidal thoughts, self-harm or depression in this group. But researchers said the study was too small to provide a definite answer. They said it’s possible that a larger study would find that varenicline doubles suicide risk or even cuts it in half. The journal BMJ published the study. HealthDay and Reuters news services wrote about it October 2.

Researchers are gathering this week to talk about a seeming relic of the ’60s, experiments with psychedelic drugs. The conference in San Jose, Calif., will draw people from around the world, the New York Times said April 11. Much of the new research uses psilocybin, an ingredient in certain mushrooms. The new studies are small. They are also much more carefully controlled than early studies of LSD, the Times said. To guard against bad reactions, people receive the drugs in a calm, controlled environment. Results are measured in standard ways. Some studies use scans to see what occurs in the people’s brains. The drugs are being used to treat depression in cancer patients, obsessive-compulsive disorder, end-of-life anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction to drugs or alcohol. Early results are promising, the Times said.

A study has found one common treatment for HIV more effective than another in people who started with a lot of the virus in their bloodstream. The study was published online December 1 by the New England Journal of Medicine. The study included 797 people who had a very high level of HIV in their bodies. They had not been treated for HIV before. Researchers divided them into four groups. Two groups received the drugs abacavir and lamivudine. The other two were given tenofovir DF and emtricitabine. Depending on the group, they also received other drugs. In the next five years, treatment stopped working for 7% of those in the groups that took tenofovir DF and emtricitabine. The rate was twice as high, 14%, for the groups that took the other two drugs.

Flu viruses change as they pass back and forth between people who have been exposed to the virus and those who had not been exposed before, new research suggests. People are exposed by getting infected or vaccinated. Researchers say vaccinating more people who have not been exposed — especially children — may slow the process of change. The study looked at changes in an H1N1 virus, an older strain that is similar to the current H1N1 (swine) flu. Researchers injected virus into several groups of mice. Some had been vaccinated. Some had not. In the vaccinated mice, the virus changed into a form that clung tighter to cells. This helped the virus to fight off antibodies in the immune system. But it also meant the virus did not spread as easily. In the unvaccinated mice, the virus spread and multiplied easily. It didn’t change much.