Category: news-perspectives

Though they shared an apartment with the first Ebola patient who got sick in the United States, relatives of Thomas Eric Duncan remained well. Health officials say they are now out of danger. Two of his nurses at a Dallas hospital did get sick. But they are improving with treatment. The end of quarantine for Duncan’s family shows that it’s not easy to become infected with Ebola, an expert told the Associated Press (AP) October 21. The virus is spread only through contact with body fluids of someone with Ebola symptoms. Early symptoms include fever, muscle aches, headache and sore throat. How rapidly symptoms appear depends partly on how much virus entered the body, an expert told AP. Joseph McCormick, M.D., worked on several outbreaks of Ebola in Africa. He is now at the University of Texas School of Public Health.

At least one-third of patients who visit a doctor with common symptoms don’t get a clear, disease-related cause, an evidence review finds. Symptoms lead to about half of all doctor visits in the United States. But doctors get less training in managing symptoms than in treating disease, the author says. The new review looked at nine prior studies. They focused on results of doctor visits for pain, fatigue, intestinal complaints and other common symptoms. The author did not include results related to colds and other upper respiratory illnesses. When doctors find a cause for symptoms, they usually don’t need to do any tests. A patient’s history and a physical exam are enough. Most people have multiple symptoms. Psychological and physical symptoms often occur together. For three out of four patients, symptoms go away within weeks to months. Other symptoms may last a long time.

As they watch more violence or sex in movies, parents may be less bothered by it and more likely to let their kids watch, a new study suggests. The study included 1,000 parents of children ages 6 to 17. Researchers asked them to watch 6 movie clips in random order. They included violent or sexual scenes from popular movies rated PG-13 or R. With each clip, parents were asked to pick the youngest age that would be OK for a child to see it. Most parents said the first clip they saw was OK for teens 17 or older. By the last clip, they thought a 14-year-old could see it. Researchers said they had become “desensitized” to violence and sex. Parents also were more willing to let their own children see the movies after viewing more clips. Some parents would let kids see the movies at even younger ages.

In a hearing October 16, members of Congress criticized mistakes that may have allowed Ebola to spread at a Dallas hospital. Nurses Nina Pham and Amber Joy Vinson were diagnosed this week. Both took care of Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The Liberian man died last week. Pham checked herself into the hospital when she developed a fever. Vinson flew home to Dallas from Cleveland with a low-grade fever. Tests showed both had Ebola. Vinson was sent to a special unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta October 15. Pham was transferred the same day to a special National Institutes of Health unit in Maryland. In testimony before Congress, a hospital official apologized for mistakes made in Duncan’s case.

People with severe psoriasis may have more problems with controlling high blood pressure, a new study suggests. Psoriasis causes scaly patches on the skin. Earlier research showed that people with this condition were more likely to have high blood pressure. The new study looked at more than 13,300 adults with high blood pressure. About 1,300 of them also had psoriasis. Uncontrolled high blood pressure was defined as readings of 140/90 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or higher. Researchers adjusted their numbers to account for health conditions and other factors that affect blood pressure. They also accounted for people’s use of blood pressure medicines. They found that people with severe psoriasis had a 48% higher risk of uncontrolled high blood pressure than those without it. The increased risk was about 20% for those with moderate psoriasis.

Amputation rates for Americans vary greatly depending on their race and where they live, a study shows. Blacks were 3 times as likely as non-blacks to have a leg amputated. The report is published on the website of the Dartmouth Atlas Project. It is based on Medicare claims. They covered the years 2007 through 2011. Researchers focused on Medicare patients who had diabetes and peripheral artery disease (PAD). PAD causes poor circulation in the legs. Both of these conditions increase the risk of amputations. Besides the racial differences, leg amputation rates were 5 times as high in some regions as in others. Overall, amputation rates were highest in the Southeast and in rural areas. Blacks were more likely than non-blacks to receive surgery to improve circulation. It can help prevent the need for amputations.

Stress may affect women and men with heart disease in different ways, a new study suggests. The study included 254 men and 56 women. They were given 3 mentally stressful tasks. Men showed greater increases in blood pressure and heart rate than women did. But for women the stress had a greater impact on the heart. They were more likely than men to have decreased blood flow to the heart. They also had more clumping of blood cells, which could lead to clots. Differences were seen in emotional responses to stress as well. Women had a greater increase in negative emotions than men while doing the stressful tasks. They also had a larger decline in positive emotions. The Journal of the American College of Cardiology published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it October 13.

Research has linked family meals with a lower risk of childhood obesity. A new study suggests that a nice, calm atmosphere at mealtime also may help. The study included 120 families. Researchers asked them to record a week of family meals on an iPad. Families with normal-weight children tended to have pleasant dinner conversations. They seemed to enjoy each other’s company. Parents offered encouragement. Parents of overweight children were more likely to lecture. Discipline tended to be inconsistent. Meals were a bit shorter — about 14 minutes, compared with 18 minutes for families with normal-weight children. For both groups of families, some type of screen (phone, TV etc.) was in use for about 61% of meals. Families with an overweight child ate about 55% of meals in the kitchen or dining room. They ate about 30% in the family room and 15% in other rooms.

Body fat can burn more calories in colder temperatures, a study has found. The study examined belly fat in 55 people. Samples were taken in the summer and winter. Belly fat is generally considered to be white fat, which does not burn many calories. But the winter belly fat behaved more like brown fat, which burns calories at a higher rate. Babies have high levels of brown fat, which is believed to help keep them warm. The study also had people put ice packs on their thighs for 30 minutes. The fat underneath the ice pack was then examined. It was expressing genes that are active in brown fat, but not white fat. These effects were limited in obese people, however. Researchers are interested in finding other ways to make white fat behave more like brown fat. This could lead to treatments for obesity, or prevention strategies. The study was published Oct.

Women with a healthy lifestyle are half as likely to have a stroke, says research from Sweden. The study included more than 31,000 women. Their average age was 60. The women answered 350 survey questions. They were then followed for an average of 10 years. During that time, there were 1,554 strokes. The researchers looked at the lifestyle factors of the women who had a stroke. They compared them with factors of women who did not. They found that just 5 factors could help to predict stroke risk: not smoking, eating a healthy diet, moderating alcohol intake, being physically active, and having a body-mass index in the normal-weight range. Women with even one of these factors were 23% less likely to have a stroke, compared with women who had none. Women with all 5 factors were 54% less likely to have a stroke. Less than 2% of women had all 5 factors. The study was published Oct.