Trial: Popular cholesterol drug fails to improve heart disease

Story Highlights

• Trial: Vytorin failed to improve heart disease though it reduces key risk factors


• Millions of Americans already take the drug or one of its components, Zetia


• Yale University cardiologist: People need to return to statins, like Lipitor


• Zetia, Vytorin have racked up $5 billion in sales despite limited proof of benefit

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Leading doctors urged a return to older, tried-and-true treatments for high cholesterol after hearing full results Sunday of a failed trial of Vytorin.

Millions of Americans already take the drug or one of its components, Zetia. But doctors were stunned to learn that Vytorin failed to improve heart disease even though it worked as intended to reduce three key risk factors.

"People need to turn back to statins," said Yale University cardiologist Dr. Harlan Krumholz, referring to Lipitor, Crestor and other widely used brands. "We know that statins are good drugs. We know that they reduce risks."

The study was closely watched because Zetia and Vytorin have racked up $5 billion in sales despite limited proof of benefit. Two Congressional panels launched probes into why it took drugmakers nearly two years after the study's completion to release results.

Results were presented at an American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago Sunday and published on the Internet by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Doctors have long focused on lowering LDL or bad cholesterol as a way to prevent heart disease. Statins like Merck & Co.'s Zocor, which recently came out in generic form, do this, as do niacin, fibrates and other medicines.

Vytorin, which came out in 2004, combines Zocor with Schering-Plough Corp.'s Zetia, which went on sale in 2002 and attacks cholesterol in a different way. Read the full story>>

Heart Risk Can Be Predicted Without Lab Tests

(HealthDay News) -- When it comes to predicting a person's cardiovascular disease risk, cheap, simple and noninvasive methods can be as effective as lab tests, a new study finds.

The U.S. researchers noted these non-lab methods could be especially useful where lab testing is inconvenient or unavailable, such as in developing countries.

Worldwide, about 80 percent of cardiovascular deaths occur in developing nations, Dr. Thomas Gaziano, of the division of cardiovascular medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, said in a prepared statement.

The team analyzed data on 6,186 people who were aged 25 to 74 when they were first examined between 1971-75 for the NHANES I study. At the time, these participants did not report any history of cardiovascular disease -- such as heart attack, heart failure, stroke or angina -- or cancer.

Over a 21-year period, people in this group had 1,529 first-time cardiovascular events, including 578 deaths due to cardiovascular disease.

The researchers compared the lab-based method and the non-lab method in calculating a number called the c-statistic to assess cardiovascular risk prediction. The lab method included age, systolic blood pressure, smoking status, total cholesterol, diabetes status, and current treatment for high blood pressure. The non-lab method substituted body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) for cholesterol.

The lab and non-lab method gave similar c-statistics, but the non-lab method can provide risk factor information non-invasively and much faster -- just five to 10 minutes, the study authors said. They added that a cholesterol test is too costly for many people in developing countries.

The study was published in the March 15 issue of The Lancet.

"Although this method requires further validation and calibration, use of a simple non-laboratory approach, as suggested by WHO [World Health Organization], could have profound effects on the affordability and availability of an adequate screening program in developing countries," the study authors wrote. "Initial screening without blood testing could lead to the quick initiation of treatment without the added cost or inconvenience of laboratory testing, and would also keep any potential loss to follow-up due to the extra step in testing to a minimum."

However, an accompanying editorial in the journal suggested this approach may not be appropriate for people in developing countries.

"Although tools that use non-laboratory-based variables can help to improve affordability of screening programs for non-communicable diseases, they should not compromise the safety of patients. For equitable care of cardiovascular disease and other major non-communicable diseases, universal access to a set of essential interventions, including laboratory assays, may be required, even in settings with limited resources," wrote Dr. Shanthi Mendis, of the WHO in Geneva, and Dr. V. Mohan, of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation in India.

More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about heart disease risk factors.

Popular Colonoscopy Prep Solution May Pose Kidney Risks

(HealthDay News) -- One of the most common bowel-cleansing preparations used by people who are about to have a colonoscopy can trigger both acute kidney failure and long-term renal damage in otherwise healthy patients.

New research suggests the risks of oral sodium phosphate solution and some oral sodium phosphate tablets are rare but real, particularly for elderly patients.

"People should be very cautious in the use of these agents because of their potential of causing kidney damage," said study author Dr. Anand Khurana, of the department of nephrology with the Scott & White Clinic at Texas A&M University in Temple, Texas.

The findings were published in the March 24 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Another popular prescription colonoscopy preparation -- polyethylene glycol solutions (PEG) -- was not the subject of the current study and does not appear to be associated with similar risks. Neither was the oral sodium phosphate tablet OsmoPrep, which has a lower sodium phosphate content than other tablets.

In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration put out an alert on oral sodium phosphate products, excluding OsmoPrep, recommending that they be "used with caution" among patients with impaired kidney function due to its high phosphate content.

The latest finding extends the concern to patients with no previous history of kidney trouble.

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer ranks third in the United States in terms of cancer diagnoses among both men and women. The organization estimates that about 150,000 people will develop the disease this year alone.

Typically, a colonoscopy is recommended for men and women over the age of 50 every 10 years as an effective way to screen for small growths called polyps and other signs of colorectal cancer. Some high-risk groups are encouraged to begin undergoing screenings at an earlier age.

The procedure involves the insertion of a slender and flexible lighted tube, fitted with a video camera, throughout the entire colon. A sigmoidoscopy relies on a similar but shorter tube to examine just the lower colon. Medication ensures that most patients feel no pain, and the screening is usually conducted on an outpatient basis.

However, patients must refrain from eating solid foods the day before the procedure, while also ingesting a bowel-cleansing liquid to clear out the colon.

The phosphate solution and tablets have been the preparations of preference because of convenience, as they are available without a prescription and require less clear liquid consumption than the polyethylene glycol solution.

To examine risks associated with use of the phosphate products, the authors analyzed kidney function among 268 patients at their clinic who had undergone either a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy between 1998 and 2005.

Most were white, with an average age of 68. Two-thirds were women, and none had a history of kidney disease. All the patients followed a standard dietary and phosphate solution prep the day prior to their screening.

Khurana and his team found that its use was associated with a 6 percent drop in kidney function six months later; that figure rose to 8 percent one year later.

"This magnitude of loss of kidney function is significant," said Khurana, who noted that patients undergo numerous colonoscopies over their lifetime, and normal kidney function loss is confined to about 1 percent per year among patients over 40.

Khurana pointed out that the safety risks he observed might ultimately be the result of patients simply not following manufacturer instructions to drink large amounts of clear liquid when consuming the preparation. Undetected chronic kidney disease among older patients undergoing colonoscopies might also play a role in the findings.

Nevertheless, "we believe that PEG preps are a safer option for patients" until further testing is done, he said.

Dr. Hemant K. Roy, an associate professor in the department of medicine at Evanston-Northwestern Healthcare in Illinois, described the findings as "quite alarming" in an accompanying editorial.

However, he stressed that warranted concerns about phosphate solutions should not discourage patients from undergoing colon cancer screening.

"Colonoscopies save lives," he stressed. "We know it works. So this should not dissuade people from doing one. I think we just need to be cautious about the type of preparation we use and who we give it to, so that an extraordinarily rare complication is avoided. And we have options, so there is a way to do that."

More information
For additional information on colonoscopies, visit the American Cancer Society.

Compulsive Gamblers Don't Learn From Their Mistakes

(HealthDay News) -- A form of mental rigidity that leads to compulsive behavior may explain why gambling addicts can't stop trying their luck even when they're on a losing streak, a new Italian study suggests.

It's not known what causes compulsive gambling, but it's been suggested that environmental factors and genetic predisposition play a role, affecting chemical signals in the brain, said researcher Donatella Marazziti and colleagues at the University of Pisa.

They conducted a series of neuropsychological tests on 15 male and five female pathological gamblers in an attempt to identify areas of the brain associated with the disorder. The results of the tests, which assessed problem-solving abilities, were compared to a group of healthy people.

The gamblers did well on all the tests except for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). In this test, the gamblers had great difficulty in finding different ways to solve each problem in the test, while the healthy participants got better with practice.

"Our findings show that in spite of normal intellectual, linguistic and visual-spatial abilities, the pathological gamblers could not learn from their mistakes to look for alternative solutions in the WCST," the study authors wrote.

This suggests that compulsive gamblers have differences in an area of the brain called the prefrontal region, which is involved in problem-solving.

"These differences might provoke a sort of cognitive 'rigidity' that predisposes a person to the development of impulsive or compulsive behavior, leading to pathological gambling," the researchers concluded.

The study was published in the March 26 issue of Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health.

More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about problem gambling.

Abdominal Fat Boosts Dementia Risk

(HealthDay News) -- A potbelly in middle age more than triples the risk of senility decades later, according to a large study that pinpoints a new link between obesity and dementia.

"The take-home message is that it's not only what you weigh, but it's where you carry your weight in midlife," said study author Rachel Whitmer, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, in Oakland, Calif.

The good news? Lose weight, and you may be able to reduce the increased risk, she said.

Researchers have been tracking the mental fallout of obesity for years. In 2005, Whitmer and her colleagues reported that people who were fatter in middle age were as much as 74 percent more likely to develop dementia as senior citizens.

An estimated 10 million American baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's disease in their lifetime, according to research released earlier this month, while another study found that more than 20 percent of seniors have memory loss not classified as dementia.

In the new study, researchers looked specifically at belly fat, checking to see if it posed a risk in people even if they were otherwise not overweight.

The study examined 6,583 Kaiser Permanente health-care plan members between the ages of 40 and 45 who had their abdominal fat measured in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The researchers followed up to see what happened to them between 1994 and 2006, when they reached their 70s and beyond.

The findings were published in the March 26 online issue of Neurology.

Overall, 16 percent of those studied developed dementia, also known as senility. Researchers found that obese people who had the most abdominal fat in their 40s were 3.6 times more likely to develop dementia than those with the least amount of abdominal fat.

People who were overweight -- a step below obese -- and had large bellies in their 40s were 2.3 times more likely to develop dementia.

Overall, 21 percent of those with high levels of belly fat developed dementia, compared to 15 percent of others, Whitmer said.

The effects of belly fat remained even when researchers adjusted their statistics to take into account the effect of conditions such as stroke and diabetes.

It's still possible that a factor other than abdominal fat may cause the higher rate of dementia. The study doesn't confirm a direct cause-and-effect relationship. Still, the findings suggest that something about abdominal body fat affects the brain independently of cardiovascular disease or diabetes, Whitmer noted.

It's not clear, however, exactly how obesity translates into reduced brain function. It may have something to do with how belly fat surrounds the body's organs and secretes hormones and toxic substances that could disrupt the way the brain functions, Whitmer speculated.

William Thies, vice president of medical and scientific relations with the Alzheimer's Association, said another theory is that the physical presence of belly fat and its compression of abdominal organs could burden the entire body, affecting the brain by increasing blood pressure and cholesterol. However, "whether there's a direct biological link between body fat and Alzheimer's has yet to be established," he said.

Whatever the cause for the connection, all hope is not lost.

"Even with moderate exercise, you can reduce that visceral fat, the fat around the organs," Whitmer said, adding that there's a lot of evidence that the roots of dementia develop years before it becomes obvious, so a change now could spell a big benefit later.

More information
To learn more about proper weight loss, visit the National Women's Health Information Center.

Health Tip: Get Screened for Cancer

(HealthDay News) -- Early detection, by way of regular screening, is one of the best ways to beat cancer.

The American Cancer Society offers these guidelines for cancer screenings:

• Women, starting at age 40, should get an annual mammogram to screen for breast cancer.
• Breast exams should start at age 20. An annual exam is recommended at age 40. Before that, women at normal risk should be examined about every three years.
• Beginning at age 50, women and men need regular screening for colorectal cancer. People at an increased risk for colorectal cancer should be tested earlier.
• Women need regular Pap smears to screen for cervical cancer. Pap smears should be given within three years of starting intercourse, or by age 21, whichever is earlier.
• Men 50 and older should get the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and a digital rectal examination annually. Men at higher risk should begin testing at age 45.

Sex Ed Can Help Prevent Teen Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) -- Comprehensive sex education may help reduce teen pregnancies without increasing levels of sexual intercourse or sexually transmitted diseases.

So find U.S. researchers who reviewed data from a 2002 national survey of more than 1,700 heterosexual teens, ages 15 to 19.

There is ongoing debate about whether abstinence-only education or comprehensive sex education (including instruction in birth control) is best for students.

Study lead author Pamela Kohler, a program manager at the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues found that about 25 percent of teens received abstinence-only education and about two-thirds received comprehensive sex education. About 9 percent -- particularly teens from poor families and those in rural areas -- received no sex education at all.

The researchers found that teens who received comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to get pregnant or to get someone pregnant than those who received no sex education.
Other results -- not statistically significant, however -- suggested that comprehensive sex education, but not abstinence-based sex education, slightly reduced the likelihood of teens having vaginal intercourse. Neither approach seemed to reduce the likelihood of reported cases of sexually transmitted diseases.

The findings, published in the April issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, support comprehensive sex education, Kohler concluded.

"There was no evidence to suggest that abstinence-only education decreased the likelihood of ever having sex or getting pregnant," she said in a prepared statement.

This study offers "further compelling evidence" about the value of comprehensive sex education and the "ineffectiveness" of the abstinence-only approach, said Don Operario, a sex education expert and professor at Oxford University in England.

More information
The Nemours Foundation has more about teen sexual health.

Music as Medicine

(HealthDay News) -- Almost everyone has used music at one time or another to relax or perhaps to get energized. But the discipline of music therapy takes the use of music much further, from battling depression to combating cancer.

"Music therapy is an evidence-based practice that can affect changes in physical, psychological, social and cognitive domains through music experiences and the relationship that develops between the client and the therapist," said Cheryl Dileo, a professor of music therapy and director of the Arts and Quality of Life Research Center at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Just turning up the radio to your favorite tune to erase a blue mood doesn't qualify as music therapy, Dileo explained. "Self-help through music is not music therapy, although many people do use music for themselves, for example for relaxation to improve their moods, or to accompany exercise."

Music therapy, on the other hand, "involves an interpersonal process through which a trained therapist uses his or her knowledge and skills to address the client's assessed needs and issues," she said. "Although many people understand intuitively how to use music for themselves, when it is used within a music-therapy process by a trained therapist, it can be a powerful means to achieving positive physical, psychological, cognitive and social outcomes."

The uses of music therapy are myriad, according to Dileo. Music therapy can be used to reduce the anxiety of hospital patients undergoing difficult medical procedures. It can help lessen pain and improve mood, she said. Music therapy can also help depressed patients express their feelings.

Music therapy has been used to keep Alzheimer's patients calm and help them improve their memories at the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at the Beth Abraham Family of Health Services in New York City.

At Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, board-certified music therapist Elizabeth Pociask uses music therapy to help new parents calm their infants.

"Music is a natural source of distraction. When a child is visibly upset, the introduction of a novel stimulus (turning on some music) will at least temporarily divert their attention away from what is upsetting them," she explained. "The parent's singing voice accomplishes the same thing and adds the element of familiarity -- the most comforting sound for an infant will nearly always be a parent's voice. When used regularly, music and/or singing can become a calming ritual, and the infant then learns to associate the music with relaxation or sleep."

Dileo said that music therapists should be board-certified, which means they've attended at least a four-year college program, as well as completed a supervised internship and have passed a national exam.

However, less formal music programs can be helpful as well. Katherine Puckett, national director of mind-body medicine at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, said that while they don't have board-certified music therapists on staff, the centers do use music as a means to help their patients.

"Music can activate the relaxation response, which helps promote deep breathing, lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, ease muscle tension and create less stress. That can help cancer patients sleep better, and difficulty sleeping is a common problem for cancer patients," Puckett said.

"Relaxing the body can also help relieve physical pain, and people may need less pain medication," she added.

The Cancer Treatment Centers of America keep a library of music available for patients to use, and they have special events, such as drumming circles, that help provide an emotional release for their patients, Puckett said. "Some people can release their emotions through talking, but sometimes people need a non-verbal release. We've had people moved to tears in our special events," she said.

"People respond to music -- you don't have to be sick to respond to music. It's relaxing, comforting and soothing," Puckett added.

More information
To learn more about music therapy, visit the American Music Therapy Association.

Health Tip: Weight-Bearing Exercises Strengthen Bones

(HealthDay News) -- Getting plenty of calcium and vitamin D in your diet are great ways to ward off the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis. Weight-bearing exercises are another way to help maintain bone health.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends these forms of weight-bearing exercise:

• Brisk walking, jogging or hiking.


• Strenuous yard work such as pushing a lawn mower, or active gardening.


• Sports such as soccer, basketball, baseball, tennis or racquetball.


• Climbing the stairs, step aerobics or dancing.


• Activities such as skiing, bowling, skating or karate.


• Use of free weights or weight machines.

Diet survey: Men eat meat, women eat veggies

Story Highlights

• Diet survey confirms: Men eat more meat; women choose fruits, veggies


• Men slightly more likely to eat "risky" foods -- runny eggs, undercooked hamburgers


• Women more likely than men to eat only one risky food, raw alfalfa sprouts

ATLANTA , Georgia (AP) -- If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, then Mars is a land where the refrigerators are stocked with meat and frozen pizza and Venus has a bounty of yogurt, fruits and vegetables, a new study suggests.

The study of eating habits of American adults -- called the most extensive of its kind -- was a telephone survey of 14,000 Americans. It confirmed conventional wisdom that most men eat more meat than women, and women eat more fruits and vegetables.

But there were a few surprising exceptions: Men were much more likely to eat asparagus, brussels sprouts, peas and peanuts. They also were bigger consumers of frozen pizzas, frozen hamburgers and frozen Mexican dinners.

Women are more likely than men to eat eggs, yogurt and fresh hamburgers.
Men also showed a little more of an appetite for runny eggs and undercooked hamburgers -- two foods that health experts say carry a higher chance of contamination that can make you sick.

Women were more likely than men to eat only one risky food, raw alfalfa sprouts, which in the past 15 years have been linked to outbreaks of food poisoning.

The survey was done in 10 U.S. states, a collaboration between state and federal health officials. The results were presented Wednesday by Dr. Beletshachew Shiferaw, an Oregon health official, at a meeting of infectious disease experts in Atlanta.

Shiferaw said she could not explain some of the odder findings, like why men eat more asparagus than women.

The survey may help health educators better target public health messages about healthy eating, she said.

Earlier this week at the same meeting, federal researchers reported that the proportion of foodborne illness outbreaks linked to leafy green vegetables has been growing.

The researchers analyzed 10,000 foodborne outbreaks from 1973 through 2006. Leafy greens were blamed for about 2 percent of outbreaks in the first 10 years, 4 percent in the second decade and 6 percent in the third.

That rise far outpaced the percentage increases in how many greens Americans ate during that time, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers.

Health Tip: Massage During Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) - The medical community continues to debate the merits of getting a massage during pregnancy, according to the American Pregnancy Association.

Before you get a massage while you're pregnant, always check with your doctor. The association believes for many pregnant women, massage can offer benefits that include:

• Improved regulation of hormones related to stress and anxiety.
• Reduced swelling of the joints.
• Improvement of nerve pain.
• Better circulation.
• Fewer muscle aches and pains.
• Better sleep.

The association advises that you should always work with a certified prenatal massage therapist, who is attuned to the needs of pregnant women. Of particular concern may be your body's position during the massage. Discuss this with your doctor and massage therapist in advance.

Women with high-risk pregnancies or medical conditions such as preeclampsia should be particularly careful about discussing the risks of massage with their physician.

Docs urged to ask young heart patients about cocaine

Story Highlights

Cocaine use can result in symptoms that look like a heart attack

• Cocaine-related chest pain is a heart attack in only 1 percent to 6 percent of patients


• 2 common heart attack treatments can be dangerous to those using cocaine


• Admitting illegal substance use confidential; info won't be reported to authorities

DALLAS , Texas (AP) -- Younger ER patients with heart attack symptoms should be asked whether they've recently used cocaine, which can cause similar chest pain, the American Heart Association warns doctors.

For these patients, honesty can be a matter of life or death: Some heart attack treatments can be deadly to someone using cocaine.

New guidelines published online Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation say that emergency room doctors need to be aware that symptoms of a heart attack in younger patients with no heart disease risk factors may be caused by cocaine use.

The drug can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, palpitations, dizziness, nausea and heavy sweating -- all symptoms of a heart attack.

"Not knowing what you are dealing with and giving the wrong therapies could mean death rather than benefit," said Dr. James Reiffel, professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The number of cocaine-related users visiting ERs rose 47 percent from 1995 to 2002, increasing from 135,711 to 199,198, according to the government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (That's a tiny percentage of the more than 100 million patient visits to emergency rooms each year.)

Current Health News: Celebrity Diet Tips

Ever wondered how Kate Moss, Gisele, Jennifer Aniston and other skinny celebs managed to get in such good shape?

In Model Diet Plan, our resident models give a full run-down on all the diet plans and tips you've seen, from the Green Tea Diet to Atkins. We also share the secrets and tips that have worked for us in our 'Real Model Tips' section.
Remember - Models are the one group of people who diet successfully. Its our job, our livelihood. So when you need advice, models are the people that you should naturally look to!

Celebrity Natural Food Top Chef Bethenny Frankel talks about how to stay slim. She gives us her secret tips on weight loss and healthy living.

White Men With Chest Pains Treated Fastest in ERs

(HealthDay News) -- White men who arrive in emergency rooms complaining of chest pains get treatments for heart trouble faster than African-Americans or women do, a new U.S. government study finds.

Researchers looked at more than 19 million emergency room visits and found that whites who reported angina were 1.6 times more likely than nonwhites to be seen by a medical staff member within 10 minutes, and men were 1.5 times more likely than women to get that quick reaction, said study author Dr. Jing Fang, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was expected to report the findings at the American Heart Association's Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Annual Conference in Colorado Springs.

Those numbers are not clear-cut evidence of discrimination on the basis of race and sex, Fang said, since emergency room responses may be based on evidence that ischemic heart disease -- blockage of coronary arteries that causes chest pain -- is more common among those who get faster treatment, and that chest pains are more likely to have other causes in nonwhites and women.

"When you see that the percentage of ischemic heart disease is higher among whites than nonwhites and among men than women, maybe the health-care providers who decide who gets treated first are thinking that whites are more likely to have ischemic heart disease, men are more likely to have ischemic heart disease," she said.

The study found no difference in response time or treatment based on age. Emergency room service was the same for visitors complaining of chest pains who were over 65 and those who were younger.

But treatments were different for the sexes and races. Men were 1.5 times more likely than women to get an electrocardiogram and 1.7 times more likely to be given a beta-blocker heart drug. Whites were 1.8 times more likely than nonwhites to get an electrocardiogram and 1.5 times more likely to be prescribed drugs for chest pain.

The study did not show whether the difference in treatment made a difference in outcomes such as mortality or hospitalization, Fang said. "We were unable to note the outcome, short-term or long-term mortality," she said. "A follow-up study would be nice."

Two other reports presented at the same conference showed clear ethnic influences on incidence and awareness of cardiovascular disease in the American population.

A study of Native Americans done at the University of Oklahoma found they had a higher incidence of stroke and were more likely to have a first stroke at an early age than whites and African-Americans. The incidence of stroke among Native Americans in the study was 679 per 100,000 person-years, higher than among other Americans, and the average age when a first stroke occurred was 66.5 years, earlier than in the general population.

And a study of health beliefs done at Columbia University found that members of racial or ethnic minorities were less likely to adopt prevailing views of cardiovascular disease prevention than other Americans. Minorities were more likely to place faith in a higher power than on personal actions to prevent disease, the researchers found. The finding "may represent a unique opportunity for education and early intervention," they said.

More information
The many possible causes of chest pain are described by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

The myths of Autism

By A. Chris Gajilan
Senior Producer

Over the past few years, CNN Medical News has provided extensive coverage of autism. From the stories of parents and children living with the disorder to the latest science on possible causes to a vast array of treatments and therapies, we have followed most major developments in the field. Every story we report on autism has been stirred an incredible amount of passion from our viewers and our readers.

Now it's your turn to have some of your own questions answered. CNN is planning a comprehensive day of coverage in recognition of World Autism Awareness Day on April 2. The latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that at least 1 in 150 children are affected in the United States.

In a report called, the "Myths of Autism" we hope to dispel any misperceptions about the disorder and the people who live with it. We also want to be very clear that there is still a great deal the scientific community has yet to learn about autism and its related disorders.

Here are some ideas that we hope to address:

- Every autistic person has savant abilities in some area such as Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. Eg: math or memorization

- Thimerosal in vaccines is the main cause for autism.

- Autistic adults will never be able to live on their own. They will always need assisted living care.

Do you think that there are prevailing myths related to autism? What are they? What questions do you need answered?

Does autism touch your life? Tell us your story here:
Autism iReport

Editor's Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

Posted By A. Chris Gajilan, Senior Producer, Medical News: 3:42 PM ET

CNN Health : Autism : Technology gives girl voice

Minorities, Poor Have Tougher Time Monitoring Diabetes

(HealthDay News) -- Minority and low-income Americans with insulin-treated diabetes are less likely to monitor their blood glucose than other diabetics, a new study shows.

The researchers examined data on 16,630 Hispanic, black and white adults aged 19 and older with insulin-treated diabetes to come to this conclusion.

At every income level, fewer Hispanics and blacks reported daily self-monitoring of blood glucose than whites. The study was to be presented Friday at the American Heart Association's Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"Minority and financially vulnerable adults with insulin-treated diabetes appear to have lower reported rates of self-monitoring of blood glucose [SMBG] -- a vital disease management component," study author Dr. Deborah A. Levine, an assistant professor in general internal medicine at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.

"Efforts to improve diabetes control, including the collection and use of SMBG data in Hispanic and black populations with diabetes [particularly those on insulin], are warranted given that Hispanics and blacks have a higher frequency of diabetes-related complications compared to whites. We need to better understand income's role in racial and ethnic disparities in SMBG to offer effective programs and policies to improve SMBG by minorities," Levine said.

The study found that among those with annual household incomes of $20,000 and higher, SMBG rates were 85 percent for whites, 78 percent for Hispanics, and 77 percent for blacks. Among those with household incomes of less than $20,000, SMBG rates were 85 percent for whites, 79 percent for blacks, and 65 percent for Hispanics.

The researchers also found that among those with household incomes of less than $20,000, 49 percent of Hispanics received diabetes education, compared with 62 percent of whites and 64 percent of blacks.

"Receipt of diabetes education varied significantly by race-ethnicity only in the less-than-$20,000 income group," Levine said. "At incomes of $20,000 or more, both Hispanics and blacks had 40 percent lower odds of daily SMBG compared to whites. At incomes of less than $20,000, however, the odds of daily SMBG decreased by 70 percent for Hispanics compared to whites, but did not change for blacks."

These racial and ethnic disparities in self-monitoring of blood glucose were not fully explained by demographic characteristics such as health insurance, health status, or diabetes-related measures such as diabetes education, disease duration or end-organ damage, Levine said.

The findings suggest that poverty significantly worsens self-monitoring of blood glucose and receipt of diabetes education among Hispanics. This means that income must be "explicitly considered when assessing SMBG performance and designing SMBG interventions for Hispanics with insulin-treated diabetes," Levine said.

In 2005, 15.1 million U.S. adults (7.3 percent of the adult population) had diagnosed diabetes, according to the American Heart Association. Of those, 13.2 percent were non-Hispanic black females and 10.7 percent were non-Hispanic black males; 11 percent were Mexican-American males and 10.9 percent were Mexican-American females; and 6.7 percent were white males and 5.6 percent were white females.

More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about diabetes control.

Minimal Exercise Benefits Overweight Postmenopausal Women

(HealthDay News) -- Just 10 minutes to 30 minutes of exercise a day can improve the quality of life for sedentary, overweight or obese women, American researchers suggest.

The analysis studied hundreds of women, average age 57, who took part in the Dose Response to Exercise in postmenopausal Women (DREW) study, first reported in 2007. These newly released secondary results focused on quality of life among 430 women who were randomly assigned to four groups -- three groups did various amounts of exercise (70, 135, or 190 minutes per week), while the fourth group did no exercise.

Most of the exercise was divided into three or four sessions per week. When they weren't doing the organized exercise sessions, the women wore pedometers.

All the women in the exercise groups reported a statistically significant improvement in social functioning compared to women in the non-exercise group, according to the study authors. In addition, women who did more exercise also showed improvements in general health, vitality and mental health.

The women who did more exercise also showed improvements in physical functioning and fewer limitations in work or other activities due to physical problems and fewer limitations due to emotional problems. There was no statistical improvement in pain.

Specifically, after six months of exercise, the women improved almost 7 percent in physical function and general health, 16.6 percent in vitality, 11.5 percent in performing work or other activities, 11.6 percent in emotional health, and more than 5 percent in social functioning.

"This has not been shown in a large controlled study before," principal investigator Dr. Timothy S. Church, researcher director at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, said in a prepared statement. "This is the first large controlled study of postmenopausal women to look at the effect of exercise training on the quality of life. It shows that exercise gives you energy and makes you feel better."

The findings were presented Thursday at the American Heart Association's Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"While the women who participated in the highest exercise group saw the greatest improvements in most quality of life scales, the women in the lowest exercise group also saw improvements," study co-author Angela Thompson, a research associate at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., said in a prepared statement.

"The public health message is tremendous, because it provides further support for the notion that even if someone cannot exercise an hour or more daily, getting out and exercising 10 to 30 minutes per day is beneficial, too," she said.

"Walking a little bit every day will help tremendously. Walk with your mother, a neighbor or friend. A little physical activity will improve your quality of life," Thompson said.

While some of the women did lose weight during the study, Thompson said the self-reported improvement in quality of life wasn't dependent on shedding excess pounds.

Not only does exercise improve an older woman's quality of life, it improves balance and builds stronger bones, Church noted.

"Start exercising for small amounts of time, and then gradually work up to 150 minutes a week. A little is better than nothing," he said.

More information
The American Osteopathic Association has more about postmenopausal women and exercise.

Health Tip: If Your Child is a Vegetarian

(HealthDay News) -- If your child is a vegetarian, it's important to make sure that he or she eats a varied, balanced and healthy diet.

Here are some guidelines, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:

• For children up to age 1, breast milk or a fortified, soy formula should be the primary source of nutrition.
• Do not limit dietary fat for children younger than age 2.
• Young children should drink plenty of milk or a fortified substitute to make sure they get enough calcium, protein, vitamin D and riboflavin.
• Give your child a vitamin B12 supplement if no animal products are eaten.
• Make sure your child gets plenty of iron from foods such as spinach, raisins, iron-fortified cereals and whole grains, prunes and prune juice.

Scientists Spot Biochemical Sign of Depression

(HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they've discovered a biomarker for depression that could lead to a quick lab test to determine whether a particular antidepressant is making headway against the disease.

"This may be a very simple biochemical indicator for depression," said study co-author Mark Rasenick, director of the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The test "wouldn't tell you which [medication] to start, but it would tell you if the one you're taking is working."

It may even be possible to use the test to determine whether rounds of psychotherapy are reaping any benefit, he said.

For now, however, such a test is a hypothetical, pending further exploration of the finding reported in the March edition of The Journal of Neuroscience.

At issue is whether the brain itself shows physical or chemical signs of depression.

The researchers looked at the interaction of neurotransmitters and a protein called Gs alpha. In brain cells, the protein acts like a kind of butler, passing messages from neurotransmitters on the outside and amplifying their messages, Rasenick explained.

When the protein is working properly, it's like a butler whose "hands are just flying, cooking and cleaning at the same time," he said. But when the brain is depressed, "it just sits there in the corner."

In this post-mortem study, the researchers looked at the protein in the brains of 18 depressed people who committed suicide and compared them to the brains of non-depressed people. They found the protein would have worked less effectively in the brain cells of the suicide victims.

The findings raise the prospect of a blood test that would measure within days whether antidepressants are effectively treating depression, Rasenick said.

Now, it can take several weeks for patients and psychiatrists to figure out if an antidepressant is working properly. According to Rasenick, only about 30 percent of depression patients will respond to a specific drug.

"Unfortunately, we have a very poor ability to predict which antidepressant might be more effective for any individual," said Dr. Gregory Simon, a psychiatrist and mental health researcher with Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. "There's a long history of research using patterns of symptoms or biological measures -- chemicals measured in blood or spinal fluid -- to predict response to a particular antidepressant. None of those hoped-for predictors have significant value."

Genetic tests may provide some clues, he said, and the new study suggests there might be another approach. "It would not eliminate trial-and-error, but it would reduce the waiting time with each trial. But it's a long way from a study like this one to a test that's useful to patients and doctors."

Rasenick is hopeful, however, and he said the proposed test could do more than gauge whether drugs are working. It could conceivably measure the effectiveness of talking to a therapist, study co-author Rasenick said, since psychiatrists think psychotherapy has a physical effect on the brain.

Rasenick said more research and money are needed. The study was funded by the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

"The next step is to partner with people who are doing large-scale studies on individuals with depression and begin to look at this," he said. "We can begin to get hundreds of people and see if we can confirm that we're right."

More information
Learn more about depression from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Planning for Health Emergencies Eases Stress of Family Travel

(HealthDay News) -- While family vacations can be fun, they can become extremely stressful if there are unexpected health problems, experts say.

Parents need to include preparations for possible health troubles in their holiday planning, says Dr. Stephen Park, an assistant professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.

"We, as parents, pay a lot of attention to things like packing toys and packing clothes, but sometimes we don't pay as much attention to preparing for potential or anticipated health issues," Park said in a prepared statement.

He offered a number of health-related travel tips.

First, create a travel health kit that includes medicines that are regularly taken by members of the family, as well as medicines for sudden ailments, such as congestion or a rash. He recommended packing a fever reducer, an antihistamine, bandages and a topical antibiotic ointment, but advised against including an anti-diarrhea medicine for traveler's diarrhea. It's better to consult with your doctor to learn about antibiotics that treat bacterial infections that can cause diarrhea.

Parents also should consider specific features of the family's vacation, such as the destination's climate. For example, bring plenty of sunscreen for sunny locales, as well as aloe vera to relieve sunburn pain. If you plan to spend a lot of time outdoors, bring insect repellent, mosquito netting and poison ivy treatments.

Think about potential issues related to your mode of transportation. For example, air travel can cause ear pain. Feeding a small child during take-off and landing to generate a suck-and-swallow motion can help ease ear pain, while older children can get relief by chewing gum or blowing bubbles. If a child is prone to motion sickness, don't sit in the middle of the plane over the wings.

If you're traveling by car, you can help prevent motion sickness by discouraging your children from reading in the car or looking down. If they start to feel ill, they should focus their eyes on a point in front of them, Park said.

When booking accommodations, parents should research the location of the closest urgent care center, night-time care center and emergency room. Be sure to bring the phone number of your doctor, so you can call to get answers to medical questions.

Park also noted that traveling throws off normal routines, which can cause children to become grumpy and difficult.

"One of the biggest concerns of parents when they are traveling with children is not so much about health but about behavior. Parents need to relax as much as possible and plan ahead. Anticipate that children may be a little off while traveling, so be patient with routines," Park said.

More information
The Nemours Foundation has more about staying healthy while your travel.

Depression After a Heart Attack Dangerous for Years

(HealthDay News) -- The increased risk of death associated with depression after a heart attack persists for at least five years, a study finds.

"We've known for a number of years that depression increases the risk of mortality as well as morbidity [illness] after a heart attack for at least three to six months," said study author Robert M. Carney, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "We assumed that we would find a decline in risk, but that was not what we found. The risk remained worse after five years."

Carney and his colleagues followed more than 750 people after their heart attacks, according to their report in the current online issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders. Using diagnostic interviews rather than the self-reporting common in most such studies, the researchers determined that 163 had major depression, and 195 had minor depression. Over the five-year study, the death rate was 87 percent higher for those with major depression and 76 percent higher for those with any form of depression.

In real numbers, 62 people diagnosed with depression died during the study, while 44 non-depressed heart attack patients died.

Why depression should increase the risk of dying is a mystery, Carney said. "We think that because depression is a chronic and recurrent problem, the factors causing that risk recur over time," he said. "But we don't know the mechanism."

The researchers have started a trial to determine whether the omega-3 fatty acids that are found in fish oil can reduce that risk. Heart patients are being given an antidepressant drug and a special formulation of omega-3 fatty acids, comparing them with a similar group that gets only an antidepressant.

"A number of studies over the years have found an inverse relationship between the amount of fish people eat and depression," Carney said. "The advantage of giving them in heart disease is that they have an effect on the cardiovascular system as well."

The major finding of the study and the use of omega-3 fatty acids are already in the mainstream of research on depression and heart disease, said Dr. Alexander H. Glassman, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

"There is a torrent of information that depression in relation to vascular disease worsens the outcome," Glassman said. "If you look at post-stroke patients, you find the same data. If you look at heart failure, depression has a similar effect on mortality."

The value of the study is that it had the longest follow-up of any trial using diagnostic interviews, which are regarded as more accurate than self-reporting, Glassman said. "It makes the evidence firmer and extends the evidence," he explained.

The use of omega-3 fatty acids is "a hot issue," being tried in cardiac and non-cardiac cases, Glassman said. "It is a logical thing to do," he added.

The study and the omega-3 trial will still leave some major issues about depression and heart disease open, Glassman said.

"The two key questions that remain are: Does treating depression make the outcome better? And what is it about depression that is causing the problem in the first place?" he said.

More information
Advice on depression after a heart attack is offered by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Botox: Works on Wrinkles and Might Help your Golf Game

Intrepid Golf Girl Patricia Hannigan, admits to using Botox for smooth skin, but recently discovered that the trendy toxin might offer a different kind of benefit to jittery golfers.

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Bacteria Mix in Guts of Babies Predicts Obesity

(HealthDay News) -- The mix of bacteria in a baby's gut may predict whether that infant will become overweight or obese later in life, a new study suggests.

Babies with high numbers of bifidobacteria and low numbers of Staphylococcus aureus may be protected from excess weight gain, according to a team of researchers from the University of Turku in Finland.

Their study was published in the March issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The researchers suggested their findings may help explain why breast-fed babies are at lower risk for later obesity, since bifidobacteria are prevalent in the guts of breast-fed babies.

Other studies repeatedly have found that being breast-fed is associated with a reduced risk of excess weight or obesity in childhood, with the risk lowered from 13 percent to 22 percent.

In the new study, researchers evaluated children who had been part of a long-term study to evaluate the effect of probiotics on allergic disease. Probiotics are potentially beneficial bacteria found in foods such as yogurt and in dietary supplements.

The children had been evaluated at birth, five more times before age 2, and then again at ages 4 and 7. The researchers in the original study had also tested for intestinal microbes in fecal samples collected at 6 months and 12 months.

For this latest study, the Finnish researchers selected 49 participants from the larger study -- 25 of them were overweight or obese at age 7 years, and 24 were normal weight at the same age.

When they looked at the fecal samples, the average bacterial counts of bifidobacteria when taken at 6 months and 12 months were twice as high in those who were a healthy weight as in those who got heavy.

Those who stayed at a healthy weight also had lower fecal S. aureus levels at 6 months and 12 months than did those who got heavy.

The S. aureus may trigger low-grade inflammation, the authors speculated, and that may also contribute to developing obesity.

In other research, gut bacteria in adults have been found to be altered in obese adults who lost weight. Someday, the Finnish researchers speculated, tinkering with gut flora may help prevent or treat obesity.

The latest study doesn't pinpoint exactly why intestinal bacteria are linked with the development of obesity, said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis and president of the American Dietetic Association.

"The exact role that bacteria in the intestine play in development of obesity is still the subject of much research," she said, "but the benefits of breast-feeding are clear. Breast-feeding provides not only the proper nutrition for your infant, but it provides benefits that may impact long-term health and weight issues as well."

However, she added that, "while breast-feeding may play a role in the weight of children, so many other factors influence weight that parents shouldn't ignore good role modeling of healthy food choices, proper portions and regular physical activity. Healthy weight is a combination of factors, and no single issue will be the cause of weight gain or the magic answer to weight loss."

Another expert who has studied how obesity changes microbes in the gut calls the new study unique, because it collected information over several years and could look for differences in gut microflora. "The finding, that the lean children harbored higher levels of bifidobacteria at younger ages, is very intriguing," says Ruth Ley, a research assistant professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Still, she says, research on the role of gut bacteria in regulating body weight is in the very early stages.

More information
To learn more about breast-feeding, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Note to self: Don't forget to pack the other 5 recorders

We count six recording devices in the hands of the woman on the right. Why? Is she covering for five colleagues on a smoke break? Is she presenting them as an offering to Press Corps God Barack Obama?

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Estrogen Levels in Blood Predict Breast Cancer's Return

(HealthDay News) -- New research shows that women who experienced a recurrence of their breast cancer had almost twice as much estrogen in their blood as women who remained cancer-free after treatment.

This indicates that circulating estrogen levels contribute to a recurrence as much as the initial malignancy does.

That information is not entirely new, said Dr. Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "That's the reason we use drugs that help to lower estrogen levels. Estrogen causes increased cell division; we think it can perhaps start breast cancer," she said. "But this is a good study in that it has a lot of patients and proves that they have a demonstrable increase in estrogen levels over patients who don't have a recurrence."

Where there's a problem, there's also often a solution.

"Anti-estrogen drugs can only have so much impact," said study author Cheryl Rock, a professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine. "There are two things apart from these drugs that can help to lower estrogen, or we believe it can, because it can in the general population. One is moderate to vigorous exercise, and the other is healthy weight management, achieving an ideal weight."

The hormone estrogen is produced not only by the ovaries, but also by fat tissue.
Previous research has shown that estrogen contributes to the risk of primary breast cancer in postmenopausal women, but there has been less evidence of the role of estrogen in cancer recurrence.

"The relationship between circulating estrogen and risk for primary breast cancer is very well-established, but there were surprisingly few studies in which estrogen levels have been measured in breast cancer survivors," Rock explained.

This study, published in the March issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, followed 153 pairs of women who had had breast cancer (one in each pair experienced a recurrence, while one did not) for more than seven years.

Two-thirds of the participants were using tamoxifen, a drug which interferes with estrogen's activity in the body.

In the end, women with more circulating estrogen were more likely to have a recurrence.
There may be other factors at play also, Rock said. For instance, sex hormone-binding globulin basically makes estrogen available to get into tissue. "If estrogen is bound to that protein, it's not going to float right over to the cell," Rock said. "When people are overweight, they have higher blood levels of insulin, which suppresses synthesis of that protein, so exercise not only is related to actually helping weight management but, because it lowers insulin, it might make the hormonal situation look better."

And don't rule out existing anti-estrogen drugs, experts added.

"This study justifies the use of drugs that help decrease estrogen levels like tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors," Wu said. "[In the future], we may want to titrate different levels of anti-estrogen medications. Right now, we have a standard dosage for everyone, whereas women who are heavier or other women who may have higher estrogen levels for one reason or another may need larger doses."

More information
Visit the National Cancer Institute for more on breast cancer.

Health Tip: Caring for a Newborn's Umbilical Cord

(HealthDay News) - Once a newborn's umbilical cord is cut just after birth, the remaining piece needs proper care to prevent infection.

The American Pregnancy Association offers these suggestions:

• Keep the area around the cord clean. Ask your doctor what is recommended -- perhaps cleaning regularly with rubbing alcohol, or just water and a gentle cleanser.


• Make sure the cord area stays dry. Use a newborn diaper with an area cut out to expose the cord. Also, let your baby wear a short t-shirt and a diaper when possible to help air get to the area.


• Don't give your baby a full, submerged bath -- just a sponge bath -- until after the cord has fallen off.


• Never pick or pull at the remaining cord, but let it fall off on its own.

Health Tip: Signs of an Unhealthy Menstrual Cycle

(HealthDay News) - A regular, healthy menstrual cycle is a good indicator of a woman's reproductive health. If you have problems with your period, see your doctor.

Here's a list of warning signs that something may be wrong, provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

• If you have no menstrual cycle by age 15, or within three years of breast development.


• If you have no period for more than 90 days.


• If you suddenly have irregular periods after having had regular periods consistently.


• If you have periods very often (21 days or less since the prior one) or very infrequently (45 days or more since the prior one).


• If you have periods that last longer than seven days.


• If you have abnormally heavy bleeding, or bleed or spot between periods.


• If you have severe pain, sickness or fever during your period or after using tampons.

Naturally Occurring Bacteria Cut Kidney Stone Recurrence

(HealthDay News) -- A naturally occurring type of bacteria called Oxalobacter formigenes reduces the risk of recurrent kidney stones by about 70 percent, a new study says.

The study looked at 247 adults with recurrent calcium oxalate (CaOx) kidney stones and compared them to a control group of 259 adults. The researchers collected health and dietary information from all the participants and analyzed stool sample cultures to look for the presence of O. formigenes.

It was detected in 17 percent of people with recurrent kidney stones and in 38 percent of those in the control group.

"We observed a strong inverse association between colonization with O. formigenes and recurrent CaOx kidney stones, with a 70 percent reduction in overall risk," lead researcher David Kaufman, a professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health, said in a prepared statement.

"Our findings are of potential clinical importance. The possibility of using the bacterium as a probiotic is currently in the early stages of investigation," he said.

The study was published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

In the United States, a person's lifetime risk of developing kidney stones is 5 percent to 15 percent, and the five-year risk of recurrence is 30 percent to 50 percent. Kidney stone-related hospital admissions cost $2 billion a year, according to background information in the study.

Up to 80 percent of kidney stones are predominately composed of CaOx, and urinary oxalate is a major risk factor for CaOx kidney stone formation, the researchers said. O. formigenes, which is present in a large number of adults, metabolizes oxalate in the intestinal tract.

More information
The National Kidney Foundation has more about kidney stones.

Weight-Loss Drug Fights Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

(HealthDay News) -- Mice given the weight-loss drug rimonabant became resistant to alcohol's fat-building effects in the liver, which suggests the medication may help fight alcoholic fatty liver in humans, says a U.S. study.

Alcoholism is the leading cause of liver disease in Western societies, according to background information in the study.

Rimonabant, which blocks cannabinoid receptors, is approved for weight loss in several European countries but has not been approved in the United States. Last June, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel recommended that rimonabant should not be given the FDA's blessing because of continuing concerns about increased risks for suicidal thoughts among some users.

In this latest study, the researchers found that mice fed a low-fat diet and ethanol showed an increase in the gene encoding the CB1 cannabinoid receptor and in liver levels of an endocannabinoid called 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). These mice developed fatty livers.

Another group of mice that received the same diet plus rimonabant did not differ from mice fed a control diet. And mice lacking CB1 receptors, either throughout the body or only in the liver, were protected from alcoholic fatty liver.

"What makes these findings particularly interesting from our perspective is that they may have practical implications," said study author George Kunos, of the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "Treatment of animals with a [cannabinoid receptor] antagonist largely prevented alcohol's effect. It suggests that the development of fatty liver in those who use alcohol could be interfered with, or perhaps reversed, with such treatment."

The findings were published in the March issue of Cell Metabolism.

"Although alcoholic fatty liver is reversible in the early stages by cessation of drinking, this is often not feasible," the study authors wrote. "The present findings suggest that treatment with a CB1 antagonist may slow the development of fatty liver and thus prevent its progression to more severe and irreversible forms of liver disease."

Drugs that selectively act on CB1 receptors found outside of the brain might help fight fatty liver with less risk of side effects such as anxiety and depression, they said.

"Rimonabant has recently been introduced in Europe for the treatment of visceral obesity and the metabolic syndrome, which themselves are known risk factors for [liver disease]. Clinical trials testing the effectiveness of CB1 receptor blockers in the treatment of both alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver and their more severe sequelae may be warranted," the researchers concluded.

More information
The American Liver Foundation has more about fatty liver.

Health Tip: Anxiety Attacks

(HealthDay News) -- Anxiety attacks attacks cause sudden, severe and sometimes paralyzing fear, often for no apparent reason.
The American Academy of Family Physicians lists these common symptoms of an anxiety attack:

• Feeling shortness of breath or a choking feeling.
• 
  Tightness or pain in the chest, and rapid or pounding heart.
• 
  Rapid pulse.
• 
  Dizziness, nausea, sweating and lightheadedness.
• Shaking or trembling.
• Hot flashes, chills or feelings of tingling or numbness in the hands and feet.
• Feelings of a dream-like state, losing control or going crazy.
  

Restricting TV and Computer Time Helps Kids Lose Weight

(HealthDay News) -- Cutting kids' TV and computer time by half reduced the amount of food they ate and helped them lose weight, a new study found.

The finding offers hope to the problem of childhood obesity in the United States, where an estimated 16 percent of children ages 6 to 19 years old are overweight, a 45 percent increase in one decade, according to federal researchers.

"Television viewing is related to consumption of fast food and foods and beverages that are advertised on television," the study authors said in a prepared statement. "Viewing cartoons with embedded food commercials can increase choice of the advertised item in preschoolers, and television commercials may prompt eating."

The findings are published in the March issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

For the study, Leonard H. Epstein, a professor in the department of pediatrics and social and preventive medicine at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, and his colleagues studied 70 overweight children, aged 4 to 7, who watched TV or played computer games for at least 14 hours a week.

The researchers installed a monitoring device on each television and computer the child used; the device allowed for the reduction of the children's weekly screen time by 10 percent a week until a 50 percent reduction had been reached. Each family member was given a unique code to activate the TV or computer. In addition, the kids received such incentives as money and stickers to spend less time with TVs or computers.

The other overweight children had no restriction on their use of TVs or computers.
Epstein's team found that the children who had no restrictions on their computer or TV use reduced their TV watching or computer-games playing by 5.2 hours a week. But the kids with restricted use cut their TV and computer time by 17.5 hours a week.

And, the children with restricted TV and computer time lost more weight than the other children. However, the researchers found no difference between the two groups in terms of physical activity.

"Using technology to modify television viewing eliminates parental vigilance needed to enforce family rules and reduces the disciplinary action needed if a child exceeds his or her sedentary behavior limits," the authors concluded. "Perhaps most important, the device puts the choice of when to watch television in the child's control, as opposed to a rule such as 'no television time until homework is completed.'"

Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, said the study, "shows the upside to this ominous mix -- reducing screen time can help prevent childhood obesity by several mechanisms. Less screen time may be even more important to dietary pattern than to physical activity pattern. But by either means, the ends here are encouraging and highlight the importance of this strategy."

More information
For more on childhood obesity, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Current Health News: Video on how to keep your workout plan

Current Health and fitness news tips to get to the gym and make sure you never skip a workout again! (more)

Vitamin E Supplements May Raise Lung Cancer Risk

(HealthDay News) -- Vitamin supplements won't protect people against lung cancer and taking vitamin E may even heighten the risk, a new study finds.

The survey covered the supplement-taking habits and lung cancer incidence of almost 78,000 adults in the state of Washington over a four-year period.

"Our study of supplemental multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E and folate did not show any evidence for a decreased risk of lung cancer," study author Dr. Christopher G. Slatore, a fellow in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Washington, said in a statement. "Indeed, increasing intake of supplemental vitamin E was associated with a slightly increased risk of lung cancer."

As reported in the March issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the research focused on men and women aged 50 to 76 taking part in the four-year VITAmins and Lifestyle (VITAL) study. Lung cancer was diagnosed in 521 participants surveyed.

In addition to the expected association with smoking, family history and other lung cancer risk factors, there was a slight but statistically significant association with vitamin E supplementation and incidence of the disease, the researchers found.

Every increase in vitamin E of 100 milligrams per day was associated with a 7 percent rise in lung cancer risk -- translating into a 28 percent increase in risk over 10 years for someone taking 400 milligrams of vitamin E daily.

"This provides additional evidence that taking vitamin supplements does not help prevent lung cancer," said Eric Jacobs, strategic director of pharmacoepidemiology at the American Cancer Society.

The society does not currently recommend use of any vitamin supplement to prevent malignancy, Jacobs said. However, "our dietary guidelines do recommend eating five or more servings of a variety of vegetables each day," he noted.

A representative of the supplements industry called the study results "not all that surprising."
"Vitamins are essential nutrients that act to maintain health and prevent vitamin deficiency," Pamela Mason, spokeswoman for the London-based Health Supplements Information Service, said in a statement. "They were never intended to be used to prevent chronic disease such as cancer. Indeed, it would be asking a lot of a vitamin pill to expect it to prevent cancer."

Since the primary cause of lung cancer is smoking, the best preventive measure is simply not to smoke, Jacobs said. Nutrients can play an auxiliary role, he noted. Anyone who cannot quit should avoid taking beta-carotene supplements, because studies have linked them to an increased risk of lung cancer, Jacobs said.

On the other hand, "for former smokers, there is some evidence that vegetables high in carotinoids, such as carrots and sweet peas, decrease the risk," he said.

Some vitamins have been linked to a reduced risk of other cancers, added Edward Gorham, an associate professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California at San Diego.

"We have worked with vitamin D, and we found a protective effect of vitamin D on colon cancer, breast cancer and ovarian cancer, and recently a modest effect on lung cancer," Gorham said.
But that effect came not from supplements but from sunlight, which causes vitamin D to be formed in the human body, he said.

"These results with multivitamins dont surprise me because there is so little vitamin D in multi-supplements, 100 or 200 International Units," Gorham said. "To achieve the effect, it takes 2,000 IU. If youre in the tropics, that amounts to 10 or 15 minutes in the sun. In southern California, it takes 10 or 15 minutes in the summer and longer in the winter because the sun angle is so low."

One study has also associated vitamin D supplements with a decreased risk of colon and breast cancer in women, Gorham said.

More information
There's more on nutrition and cancer prevention at the American Cancer Society.

Genetic Factors for Smoking Boost Chronic Bronchitis Risk

(HealthDay News) -- While smoking is the leading risk factor for chronic bronchitis, genes also play a major role in the development of the disease, say Swedish researchers.

The study, which analyzed data on more than 40,000 twins born in 1958 or earlier, found that inherited genes accounted for 40 percent of the risk for chronic bronchitis and that 14 percent of the genetic risk was also linked to a genetic predisposition to smoke, whether or not a person actually smoked.

The findings are published in the first issue for March of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

"(This) study on the population-based Swedish Twin Registry, showing a genetic effect for the development of chronic bronchitis that does not differ by sex, is the first to our knowledge to quantify heritability of the disease," Jenny Hallberg, of the department of public health sciences at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, said in a prepared statement.

Previous research had suggested that women were more likely than men to develop chronic bronchitis, so the findings that prevalence didn't differ by sex pointed to a number of intriguing possibilities, she noted.

"It is possible that women are more prone to report symptoms. Or, more likely, this could be an effect of smoking being more harmful for women due to their smaller lungs from start [exposure to cigarette smoke relative to body size]," Hallberg wrote.

The finding that genetic factors that contribute to chronic bronchitis are largely independent of smoking shouldn't be interpreted to mean that smoking has no effect on the disease, she cautioned.

"Although there was some genetic interplay, it is safe to say that smoking itself, and not the genes that predispose one to smoking, is a larger risk factor in developing chronic bronchitis of environmental exposures -- primarily smoking -- than genetic predisposition. This is true of both men and women," Hallberg wrote.

Chronic bronchitis and emphysema account for most cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about chronic bronchitis.