Dr. John's Health Matters
Welcome to Dr. John's Health Matters blog.
The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
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Tuesday, Sep 1st, 2009 ↓Tobacco Smoking May Increase Risk for Tuberculosis →
September 1, 2009 (Medscape.com)— Tobacco smoking is associated with a 2-fold increased risk for active tuberculosis, according to the results of a prospective Taiwan cohort study reported in the September 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
“Previous case-control studies and a small number of cohort studies in high-risk populations have found an association between tobacco and active tuberculosis, but no cohort studies have been conducted in the general population on this association to date,” write Hsien-Ho Lin, MD, ScD, from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues.
The goal of the study was to evaluate the association between tobacco smoking and active tuberculosis in a general population cohort of 17,699 participants older than 12 years enrolled in the Taiwan National Health Interview Survey. An in-person interview at baseline determined smoking status and other covariates. During follow-up from 2001 to 2004, incident cases of active tuberculosis were identified with use of the National Health Insurance database. After adjustment for age, sex, alcohol intake, socioeconomic status, and other covariates, the association between smoking status and active tuberculosis was estimated with multivariate logistic regression.
During the 3.3 years of follow-up, there were 57 new cases of active tuberculosis. Current smoking was linked to an increased risk for active tuberculosis (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.94; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 - 3.73). Compared with patients older than 65 years, those younger than 65 years showed a stronger association between current smoking and the risk for active tuberculosis (adjusted OR, 3.04 vs 0.78; P for interaction = .036). There were significant dose-response associations for cigarettes per day (P for trend = .0036), years of smoking (P for trend = 0.023), and pack-years (P for trend = .0023).
“Tobacco smoking was associated with a twofold increased risk of active tuberculosis in a representative cohort of Taiwan’s population,” the study authors write. “The finding that smoking increases the risk of tuberculosis suggests that tobacco control be considered as an important component in the global effort to eliminate tuberculosis.”
For full medical article, see link above.
Caution on mix of cholesterol-lowering meds →
Sept 1, 2009 (Cbc.ca)—Combining a prescription cholesterol-lowering medication with omega-3 supplements may not be the best approach, a new review suggests.
Statins are medications that prevent the liver from producing cholesterol, which can help reduce the risk of heart attacks. Every year, Canadian doctors write more than 12 million prescriptions for statins, making them the most-prescribed drugs in the country. Omega-3’s are heart-healthy oils that some evidence suggests help reduce the risk of coronary disease.
In the Nov. 3 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, Dr. Mukul Sharma, medical director of the Regional Stroke Centre at the Ottawa Hospital, and his team reviewed five different cholesterol-lowering medications that can be combined as well as omega-3 supplements sold over the counter. They concluded there is little evidence to support mixing them.
Bad cholesterol increase
In one case, the researchers found taking prescription medication with omega-3 had the opposite effect.
“Your bad cholesterol, the LDL, actually goes up,” Sharma said. “There isn’t a benefit in terms of heart disease, stroke or mortality.”
Most cholesterol patients may be better off taking higher doses of one drug instead of multiple medications, since there may be less chance of side-effects and long-term problems developing, he said. People are also less likely to take their medications the more that are prescribed.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: cholesterol increase risk danger LDL prescription cardiovascular blood heart statin medication liver heart attack prevention coronary disease
Heart Suffers From Just a Few Whiffs of Smoke →
Sept 1, 2009 (Therapytimes.com)—Just a few whiffs of tobacco smoke or dirty air can have a profound negative impact on your heart’s health.
Study results released today by the American Heart Association suggest that exposure to even a small amount of smoke — whether it’s from your own cigarette or someone else’s — greatly increases your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. The same goes for breathing in air polluted with carbon monoxide emissions.
“It doesn’t require extreme exposure to have significant cardiovascular effects. Even passive exposures to ambient air pollution and secondhand smoke contribute to significant increases in cardiovascular mortality,” study author C. Arden Pope III, PhD, says in a statement.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: heart cardiovascular risk disease smoke tobacco risk danger exposure cigarette breathing air pollution
Daylight-saving Time Leads To Less Sleep, More Injuries On The Job, Study Finds →
Sept 1, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Every March, most Americans welcome the switch to daylight saving time because of the longer days, but also dread losing an hour of sleep after they move their clocks forward. Now a new study shows that losing just an hour of sleep could pose some dangerous consequences for those in hazardous work environments.
The findings are reported in the September issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association.
“One hour of lost sleep may not seem like a lot. But our findings suggest it could have an impact on people’s ability to stay alert on the job and prevent serious injuries.” said the article’s lead author, Christopher Barnes, PhD. Barnes and co-author David Wagner, PhD, were both doctoral students in organizational behavior at Michigan State University when they conducted this research.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: daylight savings sun sleep day danger hazard work environment injury alert risk
Secondhand Smoke Worsens Outcome of Acute Coronary Syndrome →
Aug 28, 2009 (Medscape.com)— - Environmental exposure to tobacco smoke - a known risk factor for myocardial infarction and other acute coronary syndromes (ACS) - can also worsen prognosis after ACS, according to a new study.
“These findings suggest that, by reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, smoke-free legislation may not only reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events, but may also improve prognosis in those who suffer them,” Professors Jill P. Pell and Sally Haw write in a featured editorial published with the study in the September issue of Heart.
For full medical article, see link above.
Tags: secondhand smoke cigarette acute coronary syndrome myocardial infarction risk danger cardiovascular smoker
Hormone therapy fatal in prostate cancer sufferers →
Aug 27, 2009 (Presstv.com)—Hormone-based medications commonly used to treat aggressive prostate cancer may be hazardous for certain men suffering from heart problems.
Previous studies had reported that drugs which block tumor-fueling surges of testosterone can effectively treat aggressive forms of prostate cancer.
A new study, however, finds radiation therapy added with these drugs increase the mortality rate in men already suffering from heart disease.
According to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, neoadjuvant hormone therapy doubles the risk of death in prostate cancer sufferers with coronary artery disease-induced congestive heart failure (CHF) and myocardial infarction (MI).
Such a high mortality risk, however, was not reported among those with no comorbidity or just a single coronary disease risk factor undergoing the treatment.
Scientists concluded that physicians should prescribe hormone therapy with care in men with serious heart diseases. Such men account for only five percent of the male population.
PKH/AA
Tags: hormone therapy prostate cancer danger risk heart disease cardiovascularr testosterone death coronary artery congestive heart failure heart attack myocardial infarction treatment
Antidepressant Commonly Prescribed for Autism Found Utterly Useless →
Aug 26, 2009 (NaturalNews.com)— The antidepressant Celexa, commonly prescribed to alleviate some symptoms of autism in children, has no medical benefit in such patients, while exposing them to a significant risk of side effects.
Researchers treated 149 autistic children between the ages of five and 17 with either Celexa (generic name citalopram) or a placebo for 12 weeks. While one third of the patients who took Celexa showed improvement in symptoms over the study period, just as many patients showed improvement on the placebo. Children who took Celexa were twice as likely to suffer from side effects, including insomnia and impulsiveness, as children who took a placebo.
Lead researcher Bryan King noted that doctors prescribing drugs for “off-label” uses not approved by the FDA — often uses for which few studies of effectiveness or safety have been done — may think the treatment is actually working because of strong placebo effects like that seen in this study.
Celexa is an antidepressant in the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. Because many SSRIs have shown some effectiveness in treating the symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder in adults, growing numbers of pediatricians are turning to the drugs to treat obsessive, repetitive behaviors in autistic children. Many autistic children are prone to carry out repetitive behaviors like counting or arm flapping almost uncontrollably, often flying into a tantrum if interrupted.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: autism symptom side effect risk danger childrem behaviour celexa insomnia impulse antidepressant serotonin aggression risperidone
More Obesity Blues: Obese People Are At Greater Risk For Developing Alzheimer's, Study Finds →
Aug 25, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Obesity is on a rampage, with the World Health Organization pegging the numbers at more than 300 million worldwide, with a billion more overweight. With obesity comes the increased risk for cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, and hypertension.
Now comes more discouraging news. In the current online edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping, Paul Thompson, senior author and a UCLA professor of neurology, and lead author Cyrus A. Raji, a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues compared the brains of people who were obese, overweight, and of normal weight, to see if they had differences in brain structure; that is, did their brains look equally healthy.
They found that obese people had 8 percent less brain tissue than people with normal weight, while overweight people had 4 percent less tissue. According to Thompson, who is also a member of UCLA’s Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, this is the first time anyone has established a link between being overweight and having what he describes as “severe brain degeneration.”
“That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack the brain,” said Thompson. “But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control.”
Tags: risk danger diabetes hypertension cardiovascular brain obesity structure tissue overweight degeneration cognitive reserve alzheimer's
Why Low Vitamin D Raises Heart Disease Risks In Diabetics →
Aug 25, 2009 (sciencedaily.com)—Low levels of vitamin D are known to nearly double the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes, and researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now think they know why.
They have found that diabetics deficient in vitamin D can’t process cholesterol normally, so it builds up in their blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. The new research has identified a mechanism linking low vitamin D levels to heart disease risk and may lead to ways to fix the problem, simply by increasing levels of vitamin D.
“Vitamin D inhibits the uptake of cholesterol by cells called macrophages,” says principal investigator Carlos Bernal-Mizrachi, M.D., a Washington University endocrinologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “When people are deficient in vitamin D, the macrophage cells eat more cholesterol, and they can’t get rid of it. The macrophages get clogged with cholesterol and become what scientists call foam cells, which are one of the earliest markers of atherosclerosis.”
Macrophages are dispatched by the immune system in response to inflammation and often are activated by diseases such as diabetes. Bernal-Mizrachi and his colleagues believe that in diabetic patients with inadequate vitamin D, macrophages become loaded with cholesterol and eventually stiffen blood vessels and block blood flow.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: vitamin d diet nutrition diabetes deficient blood vessel heart attack stroke danger rosk cholesterol atherosclerosis immunity disease
Diabetes Drug Linked To Increased Risk Of Heart Failure →
Aug 24, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Rosiglitazone, a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes, is associated with an increased risk of heart failure and death among older patients compared to a similar drug (pioglitazone), concludes a study published on bmj.com.
As such, the researchers say it is difficult to advocate continued use of rosiglitazone for most patients.
Rosiglitazone and pioglitazone belong to a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones and are widely used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. They help to control blood sugar levels, but both drugs can also cause side effects including weight gain, fluid retention and heart failure.
It is unclear whether there are clinically important differences in the cardiac safety of these two drugs, so researchers in Canada compared the risk of heart attack, heart failure and death in patients treated with rosiglitazone and pioglitazone.
Using prescription records, they identified nearly 40,000 patients aged 66 years and older who started treatment with either rosiglitazone or pioglitazone between April 2002 and March 2008.
Data on hospital admission for either a heart attack or heart failure during the six-year study period were recorded and deaths were identified from a national database.
Detailed analysis showed that patients treated with pioglitazone had a significantly lower risk of heart failure and death compared to patients treated with rosiglitazone, but there was no significant difference in the risk of heart attack.
The researchers estimate that, for every 93 patients treated with rosiglitazone rather than pioglitazone, one additional cardiovascular event or death would be predicted to occur annually.
“Our findings suggest clinically important differences in the cardiovascular safety profiles of rosiglitazone and pioglitazone in clinical practice,” say the authors. “Given the accumulating evidence of harm with rosiglitazone treatment and the lack of a distinct clinical advantage for the drug over pioglitazone, it is reasonable to question whether ongoing use of rosiglitazone is justified,” they conclude.
For full article see link above.
Tags: diabetes drug cardiovascular stroke heart attack failure rosiglitazone pioglitazone thiazolidinedione blood sugar level control weight gain fluid retension risk danger
Warning Over Codeine Use After Tonsillectomy →
Aug 21, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—A report out of The University of Western Ontario, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, warns the use of codeine to treat pain following a tonsillectomy could prove fatal for some children. Dr. Gideon Koren, who holds the Ivey Chair in Molecular Toxicology at Western, zeroed in on the danger after investigating the death of a two year old boy following a relatively easy operation to remove his tonsils.
Koren is a pediatrics professor at both Western and the University of Toronto, and the Director of the Motherisk program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Enlarged tonsils are usually treated with antibiotics, but Koren says tonsillectomies are still performed in the case of sleep apnea, where the child stops breathing while asleep.
In this particular case, the toddler had a history of snoring and sleep-study-confirmed sleep apnea. He was taken to an outpatient clinic, had the operation, and was taken home. The mother was given syrup of codeine and instructed how to administer it to her child for pain relief. On the second night after surgery, the child developed a fever and wheezing, and was found dead the next morning. Tests later showed the mother had given the proper dosage, and yet the child’s body was found to have high levels of morphine. The coroner asked Koren to look at the case.
“The sudden death of a healthy child was quite sobering because tonsillectomies are done every day, all over North America,” says Koren. “And more and more of them are done on an outpatient basis, with the child going home the same day.” The child was found to have the ultra-rapid metabolism genotype which causes the body to metabolize codeine at a faster rate, producing significantly higher amounts of morphine.
For full article see link above.
Tags: risk codeine tonsillectomy fatal danger tonsil sleep apnea snoring surgery operation pain relief fever wheezing morphine
Warning: Swine Flu Shot Linked to Killer Nerve Disease →
Aug 18, 2009 (Mercola.com)—A warning that swine flu vaccine has been linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the UK Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter.
The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, was leaked to The Daily Mail, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.
It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine. GBS attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal.
The letter refers to the use of a similar swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976 when:
- More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu
- The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times
- The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear
- The U.S. Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected
Concerns have already been raised that the new vaccine has not been sufficiently tested and that the effects, especially on children, are unknown.
Sources: 
The Daily Mail August 15, 2009
9 Secret Toxins Lurking in Your Food →
Aug 18, 2009 (Mercola.com)—Your grocery store is plentifully stocked with wolves in sheep’s clothing. Here are some tips to help you steer clear of hidden toxins that masquerade as safe products.
1. Stay away from processed meats like bacon, hot dogs, and sausage. Sodium nitrate can also cause the formation of nitrosamines in your system, which can lead to cancer.
2. Reduce the amount of canned food you consume. Cans are commonly lined with bisphenol-A, an organic compound that may be associated with diabetes and heart disease.
3. Skip the diet soda and artificial sweeteners. Prolonged exposure to aspartame, a neurotoxic chemical additive in these products, can lead to nerve cell damage, dizziness, and headaches.
4. Opt for organic chicken. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy discovered traces of arsenic in non-organic chickens. Exposure to this dangerous chemical can lead to cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Another study also found numerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria in conventional poultry.
5. Avoid manufactured snacks. Hydrogenated oils are used to lengthen the shelf life of products like crackers and cookies, but they are also associated with diabetes and heart disease. Snack foods are also generally loaded with salt, corn syrup and other unhealthy ingredients.
6. Stay away from artificially-colored foods like candy, maraschino cherries, and gelatin. Mice and rats exposed to blue 1 and 2, red 3 and yellow 6 suffered from brain, adrenal gland, thyroid, and kidney tumors.
7. Always buy organic produce. Lingering pesticides can lead to nervous and reproductive system damage, not to mention cancer.
8. Avoid Teflon cookware. The Teflon used to create nonstick surfaces can release noxious gases when exposed to high temperatures, which puts you at risk for heart disease.
9. Never microwave food in plastic bowls, containers, or dishes. Exposure to heat causes the bisphenol-A found in plastics to break down and potentially contaminate your food.
Sources:
AlterNet August 11, 2009Tags: toxin risk danger prevention cancer organic artificial colour teflon microwave artificial sweetner soda pop canned food process meat bacon hot dog sausage sodium nitrate disease diabetes heart hydrogenated oil
List Of Hazardous Chemicals In Smokeless Tobacco Is Expanded In New Study →
Aug 16, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Attention all smokeless tobacco users: It’s time to banish the comforting notion that snuff and chewing tobacco are safe because they don’t burn and produce inhalable smoke like cigarettes. A study that looked beyond the well-researched tobacco hazards, nitrosamines and nicotine, has discovered a single pinch –– the amount in a portion –– of smokeless tobacco exposes the user to the same amount of another group of dangerous chemicals as the smoke of five cigarettes.
The research on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in smokeless tobacco was reported at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). It adds to existing evidence that smokeless contains two dozen other carcinogens that cause oral and pancreatic cancers, the scientists say.
“This study once again clearly shows us that smokeless tobacco is not safe,” said Irina Stepanov, Ph.D., who led the research team. “Our finding places snuff on the same list of major sources of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as smoking cigarettes.” PAHs are widespread environmental contaminants formed as a result of incomplete burning of wood, coal, fat in meat, and organic matter. PAHs form, for instance, during the grilling of burgers, steaks and other meat.
The findings come in the midst of a rise in both marketing and consumption of smokeless tobacco, which many consumers regard as less dangerous than other forms of tobacco. Estimates suggest that sales of moist snuff in the United States have doubled since the 1980s.
“The feeling of safety among some smokeless users is wrong,” said Stepanov, a chemist with Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. “A total of 28 carcinogens were identified in smokeless tobacco even before our study. Continued exposure to these over a period of time can lead to cancer. Now we have found even more carcinogens in snuff.” In addition to the heightened cancer risk, she noted that chronic use of snuff leads to nicotine addiction, just as it does with cigarette smoking.
For full article see link above.
Tags: risk cigarette smokeless tobacco chemical nitrosamine nicotine danger carcinogen cancer pancreatic oral chewing snuff hydrocarbon
Accidental Childhood Poisonings Mostly Due To Medicines →
Aug 5, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—More than two-thirds of all emergency department visits for childhood poisoning involve prescription and over-the-counter medications, more than twice the rate of poisonings from consumer products, reports a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
We feel these data suggest that new poisoning prevention efforts should focus on the problems of medication poisoning,” said Daniel Budnitz, M.D., the senior study author.
Budnitz, director of the Medication Safety Program in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the CDC, and colleagues analyzed two years’ worth of data on pediatric emergency department (ED) visits for unintentional medication overdoses.
The study appears online and the in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The researchers estimated that 71,224 ED visits for unintentional medication overdoses occurred annually in children 18 and younger.
“Unsupervised medication ingestions caused over 80 percent of the ED visits. These ED visits for unsupervised ingestions are 10 times more common than overdoses from medication errors by a parent or caregiver,” Budnitz said.
For full article see link above.
