Category: news-perspectives

Pregnant woman and children are among those who should get H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine first, an expert panel says. The vaccine advice came July 30 from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The U.S. government usually follows this group’s advice, USA TODAY said. The group also named a few other groups that should get top priority for swine flu shots. They include young adults, parents and others who care for infants, emergency medical workers, and non-elderly adults with certain medical conditions. U.S. officials hope swine flu vaccine will be ready by late October. Supplies may be limited at first. People also will be urged to get regular flu shots. They fight a different type of flu than the swine flu vaccine.

Researchers have found mosquito and human genes that help dengue fever to cause infection and to grow. They said this finding could lead to new drugs against the tropical disease. The research began with fruit flies, because they are similar to mosquitoes but more often studied. Scientists turned off, or “silenced,” fly genes, one by one. This allowed them to find 116 genes that helped dengue cause infection and grow. These genes are known as host factors. Then researchers tried turning off the genes in mosquitoes. Turning off one particular gene made it much harder for dengue to infect the mosquitoes. Researchers also found similar genes in human cells. The study was published April 23 in the journal Nature.

Holiday myths die hard, but a study in the British Medical Journal examines some of the most common. Researchers looked at evidence for six common beliefs related to the holiday season. They found the following: Sugar does not make kids hyperactive; suicides do not go up during the holidays; poinsettias are not poison; you don’t lose most of your body heat through your head; eating at night does not make you fat; and there’s no cure for a hangover. The Washington Post wrote about the study December 19.

A 6-year study has found that the popular supplement Ginkgo biloba does not slow memory loss or memory problems in older people. More than 3,000 people were enrolled in the study. All were between the ages of 72 and 96. Half took Gingko pills. The other half took identical-looking pills with no Gingko in them. Equal numbers of people in each group suffered memory loss and memory problems. The study was published in the December 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. USA Today wrote about it December 30.

The most common flu bug so far this year is resistant to the leading medicine used to treat it, the federal government says. Tamiflu is one of two drugs called antivirals. Most people don’t take antiviral drugs when they get the flu. Government officials point out that other flu bugs could become more common as flu season continues. They say flu shots are the best protection. The government announcement was part of a weekly flu report released December 19. The Associated Press reported on the announcement the same day.

Vitamin E pills may help many people who have the most common long-term liver disease, new research suggests. The illness is nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. It is also called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. It can lead to a life-threatening liver condition, cirrhosis. The study included 247 adults with the condition. They were randomly assigned into four groups. One group received vitamin E pills. Another group got pioglitazone (Actos), a diabetes medicine. The other two groups received placebo pills that looked like one of these drugs. About 4 out of 10 people who took vitamin E improved, compared with 2 out of 10 who took the placebo. Fewer people who took pioglitazone improved. The difference compared with the placebo could have been caused by chance. The New England Journal of Medicine published the study online. The Associated Press about it April 29.

Most doctors don’t properly use one screening method for colorectal cancer, a survey suggests. Researchers surveyed 1,134 primary care doctors. About 3 out of 4 doctors said they perform or order an office fecal occult blood test for patients. The others rely on just the home-based fecal occult blood test. The home test uses three stool samples. It is more accurate than the office test. About half of doctors used both tests. The fecal occult blood test looks for hidden blood in the stool. This can be a sign of colon cancer. The study was published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. HealthDays News wrote about it April 15.

Using guidelines can reduce unnecessary brain scans in children with head injuries, a study finds. The study included 42,000 children. All came to hospital emergency rooms with head injuries. Researchers looked at medical records for the first 22 months of the study. They used them to make guidelines to predict which children do not have an important brain injury. The guidelines include a child’s mental state, behavior, evidence of injury and other factors. Researchers then tested their guidelines. They did this by comparing them to head injury cases from the next three months. The guidelines correctly predicted which children did not have an important brain injury. They were correct for all children under 2 and nearly all of the others. Many children in these low-risk groups had computed tomography (CT) scans. But they didn’t need the scans, researchers said.

People who follow the Mediterranean diet may be less depressed, new research suggests. This diet includes olive oil plus many fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Protein often comes from fish, nuts, beans and legumes. The study included 10,000 healthy Spaniards. They regularly filled out a list of questions about mood and diet. Researchers kept track of them for an average of 4.4 years. Those who followed the Mediterranean diet most closely had a 30% lower rate of depression. This means that 70 people were depressed for every 100 people who didn’t follow the diet as well. The study appeared in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. HealthDay news wrote about it October 5.

An experiment in public schools suggests that removing whole milk from public schools can help kids reduce calories and fat. New York City public schools dropped whole milk in 2005. They sold only low-fat and skim milk in cafeterias. The change saved about 600 grams of fat per year for a student who drank milk. Students continued to buy milk. Purchases actually increased about 1% after the switch. Study results were published January 28. They appeared in the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.