Category: news-perspectives

Two experimental vaccines against Ebola and Marburg viruses are safe and produced an immune response in adults in Uganda, a new study finds. This is the first time these vaccines were tested in Africa. Earlier this year, similar results were reported in healthy U.S. adults. Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases developed the vaccines. In the study, 108 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 50 were randomly divided into four groups. One group got placebo injections. The other three groups got the Ebola vaccine, Marburg vaccine or both vaccines. The injections were given over eight weeks. Researchers followed the participants for two years. They found antibodies against the strain of the Ebola virus that caused the outbreak in West Africa in 17 of the people who got the Ebola vaccine alone and in 14 people who got both vaccines.

Teenagers whose mothers were depressed when the teens were between 6 and 10 years old are more likely to show signs of risky behavior, a new study finds. This included smoking, drinking, using marijuana and violent behavior. The study followed 2,910 pairs of mothers and their children in Canada, starting in 1994, when the children were between ages 2 and 5. The study continued until the children were ages 16 to 17. Every 2 years, mothers filled out questionnaires about themselves and their children. The children also filled out questionnaires beginning at age 10. Teens with depressed mothers in the teens’ middle childhood years were twice as likely to smoke cigarettes or use marijuana. They were also 1.4 times more likely to use alcohol and over 3 times more likely to use hallucinogens (for example, LSD).

Despite the risks of sedative drugs for older people, they are more likely to take these medicines than younger adults, a new study shows. The study focused on benzodiazepines. These drugs are used to treat anxiety and insomnia. Examples include alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam (Ativan). The study was based on a U.S. prescription database for 2008. In that year, these medicines were prescribed for about 5% of adults ages 18 through 80. But among the oldest group, ages 65 through 80, nearly 9% took them. In all age groups, women were twice as likely as men to take sedatives. Almost one-third of older adults who used these medicines took them for at least 4 months. Long-term use may make them less effective. It also may increase the risk of addiction. Sedatives are known to increase the risk of falls, car accidents and confusion.

Being fit reduces the risk of high blood pressure, a large new study finds. The study included more than 57,000 adults who were part of a large, long-term exercise study. Their average age was 53. They were referred by their doctors for a treadmill stress test because they had chest pain or shortness of breath. Researchers looked at the level of fitness for each person, as measured by the treadmill test. About 35,000 people in the group had been diagnosed with high blood pressure. More than 70% of those with low fitness levels had high blood pressure, compared with less than 50% of those with high fitness. After the tests, researchers kept track of people for a median of 4.4 years. More than 8,000 people were diagnosed with high blood pressure during this follow-up period. About 49% of them were in the lowest fitness group. About 21% were in the top fitness group.

E-cigarettes may help smokers to quit, a new report concludes. But it noted that there’s not much research so far about these new devices. The report comes from the Cochrane Collaboration. This is an independent group that evaluates medical evidence and gives advice. Cochrane reviewers looked at 2 clinical trials. They included a total of 662 smokers. People were randomly assigned to try quitting with either e-cigarettes or fake devices that contained no nicotine. After a year, 9% of those who used e-cigarettes were tobacco-free. About 4% of those who used the fake devices were able to quit. About 36% of e-cigarette users cut in half the number of regular cigarettes they smoked. About 28% of those using the fake devices were able to do this. One of the trials also compared e-cigarettes and nicotine patches. They were about equal in helping people quite.

People may be more willing to share their health records for research than for marketing, a new study finds. In this study, how the records would be used mattered more to people than whether they gave consent. The study included more than 3,000 people. Researchers presented them with examples of ways that medical data could be used. All of the examples involved an analysis of thousands of medical records. This analysis picked out the people with diabetes and what drugs they took. In different scenarios, the information was obtained with or without the person’s consent. It was used either for research (to improve care) or for marketing (to help sell a diabetes drug). People were asked what they thought about each use of the information. A score of 10 was the most appropriate use and 1 was the least. The lowest scores (3.81) were for using information for marketing without consent.

Mothers who use their smartphones and tablets at the dinner table are less likely to interact with their kids, a new study finds. Researchers videotaped 225 mother-and-child pairs at the dinner table. The children were all 6 years old. Sometimes they ate familiar foods. At other times, the children were introduced to new foods. This can be stressful for young children. On average, mothers who used mobile devices during dinner talked to their children 20% less often than mothers who did not use them. They interacted in other ways 39% less often. When introducing new foods, mothers using mobile devices talked to their children 26% less often than non-users. They had 48% fewer interactions of other types. The journal Academic Pediatrics published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it December 12.

In early testing, a new compound appeared to help reduce weight gain, researchers said. The compound contains propionate. This is a fatty acid that is created when fiber breaks down in the colon. Among other things, propionate appears to play a role in suppressing appetite. Researchers created a compound of propionate and inulin, a plant fiber.  Twenty healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to drink either this compound or inulin alone in fruit juice. Then they were told to eat as much as they wanted from a buffet. People who got the propionate compound ate about 14% less than the other group. The next phase of the study lasted 24 weeks. This time, people 60 overweight adults were assigned to receive either the propionate compound or inulin.  In all, 49 completed the study. Of the 25 who took the compound, 1 person gained more than 3% of body weight.

Adding ultrasound to mammograms for all women with dense breasts will lead to more tests, cost a lot and ultimately save very few lives, a new study says. Dense breasts have more non-fatty than fatty tissue. Women with dense breasts have a higher risk of breast cancer. It’s also harder to detect tumors in dense breasts on a mammogram. Some doctors have started adding ultrasound as part of routine screening for these women. Researchers used data from breast cancer databases. They compared computer simulations based on 3 scenarios. All of them focused on screening every 2 years for women ages 50 to 74. In the first scenario, women got mammograms only. The other scenarios also included ultrasound for women with very dense breasts or for women with very dense and moderately dense breasts. The study found that adding ultrasound did not save many lives.

Many older women get up often at night to use the bathroom, a study suggests. That could be just because they drank too many liquids in the evening, the authors say. But it also could be a sign of a medical problem. Researchers surveyed about 2,000 women. All were 40 or older. One-third said they usually went to the bathroom at least twice a night. This is called nocturia. It can be a symptom of a urinary tract disorder. But about 40% of the women reported no other symptoms, such as urine leakage or an overactive bladder during the day. The chance of having nocturia rose 21% for every 5-year increase in age. Night bathroom trips also were more common among women who had had a hysterectomy, had hot flashes or used vaginal estrogen to treat menopause symptoms. Only one-quarter of the women were even “moderately” bothered by their nocturia.