CNN "train wreck" comment on healthcare case leaves a mark

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Health Tip: Why Am I Constipated?

HealthDay – 39 mins ago (HealthDay News) -- Constipation can mean passing fewer-than-normal stools during a week, or passing stools that are dry and hard, or difficult to pass.

The National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse offers these possible causes of constipation:

Changes in your exercise routine, dietary habits or travel schedule.Not going to the bathroom when you have the urge to produce a bowel movement.Being under significant stress.Lack of fiber or fluids in the diet.Taking vitamin supplements, especially iron, calcium or some pain-relieving medications.Medical conditions, including pregnancy, digestive problems, diabetes or thyroid problems.

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Supreme Court Justices Zero In on Key Provision of Health-Care Law

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Health Tip: Warning Signs of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

HealthDay – 39 mins ago (HealthDay News) -- Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when inflammation affects tissue and a nerve that runs from the forearm to the fingers through a tunnel-like formation of bones in the wrist.

Long-term repetitive use of the hand can play a role in developing carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as person's age, heredity, hormonal changes and certain medical conditions.

How do you know if you have carpal tunnel? The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons offers this list of classic symptoms:

Numbness, tingling or pain, especially on the thumb side of the hand.A false feeling of being shocked, especially affecting the thumb and nearby fingers.Pain that radiates toward the shoulder.In severe cases, muscles at the base of the thumb become noticeably distorted.

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Analysts Differ on Role of 'Individual Mandate' to Health-Reform Law

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HPV Vaccine May Help Women With Cervical Conditions

HealthDay – 39 mins ago TUESDAY, March 27 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that women diagnosed with pre-cancerous cervical conditions after they get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine can still benefit from the shot because it cuts their risk of future HPV-related cervical disease.

"This study helps to clarify the effects of the HPV vaccine and further define its use," noted one expert, Dr. Elizabeth Poynor, a gynecologic oncologist and pelvic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Poynor, who was not involved in the new research, said it "is the first to address the effect of the HPV vaccine in women who have undergone treatment for HPV-related disease."

The study was published online March 27 in the BMJ.

HPV remains the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States and can cause health problems ranging from genital warts to cervical cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HPV infection is thought to be the leading cause of cervical cancer, and two HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, have received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.

Previous research has shown that HPV vaccination does not prevent progression to cervical pre-cancers in women who have an HPV infection when they receive the vaccine.

However, this is the first study to examine if HPV vaccination can prevent future cervical disease in these women after they've been successfully treated for their current condition, the researchers pointed out in a journal news release.

The study involved an international team of researchers led by Dr. Elmar Joura of the Medical University of Vienna. The investigators analyzed data from 1,350 young women in 24 developed and developing countries who took part in two clinical trials in which they received either the HPV vaccine or an inactive placebo. The women were subsequently diagnosed with either a vulvar or vaginal disease (including genital warts) or had required cervical surgery.

Among women who required cervical surgery after taking part in the studies, the risk of getting a subsequent HPV-related disease was 6.6 cases per 100 women per year among those who received the HPV vaccine and 12.2 cases per 100 women per year among those who received the placebo. This translates into more than a 46 percent reduced risk for women who received the HPV vaccine, the authors noted.

The researchers also found that the risk of pre-cancerous changes of the cervix and other "high-grade" cervical disease was almost 65 percent lower in those who received the HPV vaccination than in those who received the placebo.

Among women who were diagnosed with and treated for vaginal or vulvar disease, the risk of any future HPV-related disease was about 35 percent lower among those who received the HPV vaccine than among those who received the placebo, the study authors reported.

Two other experts said the findings appear heartening.

"While questions remain on the design of the study, it offers another reassurance that the efficacy of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine as initial protection may extend to decreasing subsequent diseases after initial vaccination," said Dr. Linus Chuang, director of gynecologic oncology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

And Dr. Stephanie Blank, director of the gynecologic oncology fellowship at NYU School of Medicine, agreed that the study "describes potential further benefits of the HPV vaccine. HPV causes cervical cancer but affects even more women by causing cervical dysplasia

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Study Reveals Trigger That May Speed Melanoma Growth

HealthDay – 39 mins ago WEDNESDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- Growth of the deadly skin cancer melanoma may be triggered by the immune system turning on itself, according to a new study that also identified the mechanism that causes this to happen.

Melanoma accounts for only about 5 percent of skin cancers, but is the cause of most skin cancer deaths, American Cancer Society statistics indicate. The disease is often curable in its early stages but is difficult to treat once it has spread invasively, the authors of the new study noted.

The study, published in the current edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine, focused on a specific immune-inhibiting molecule called B7-H1 in melanoma tumors.

In patients with tumors that expressed B7-H1, suppression of the inflammatory immune response sped the growth and increased the aggressiveness of their tumors, the researchers from Yale School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions found.

The investigators also found that tumor cells somehow use a component of the immune system itself (interferon gamma) to turn on B7-H1 and suppress the immune system.

"We were surprised to find that aggressive tumors can not only escape or hide from infiltrating immune cells, but can go on the attack -- using interferon gamma as a weapon against the immune system," lead author Dr. Lieping Chen, a professor of immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine and director of the cancer immunology program at Yale Cancer Center, said in a Yale news release.

This mechanism may be responsible for immune suppression and tumor growth in up to 40 percent of melanoma patients, Chen said. The finding may make it possible to develop therapies that block this immune-suppressing ability, he added.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about melanoma.

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FDA Adds More Warnings to Antidepressant's Label

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Health Highlights: March 28, 2012

HealthDay – 39 mins ago Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Report Slams Approval Process for Medical Devices

U.S. regulators approved the Lap-Band weight loss device with little or no advance safety testing, according to a report issued Wednesday by Consumer Reports magazine.

It said the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the device was based on a clinical study of only 299 patients. Of those patients, 25 percent had their Lab-Bands removed before the end of the 3-year study due to complications or failure to lose enough weight.

"Imagine if a car had a recall rate that high. Consumers and regulators would be up in arms," said John Santa, director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Allergan Inc. has sold more than 650,000 Lap-Bands worldwide. Last year, the FDA approved the Lap-Band for use in less-obese patients. The approval was based on a study that showed 80 percent of patients who used the device lost at least 30 percent of their excess weight and kept it off for one year.

The Lap-Band "has been approved internationally since 1993, and as such has a 19-year safety and effectiveness record," Allergan spokeswoman Naziah Lasi-Tejani told the Times.

Consumer Reports also expressed concerns about the safety testing and risks associated with metal hips, surgical mesh and certain cardiac devices.

Allergan and other companies that make medical devices comply with current federal regulations, noted Rita Redberg, a professor of medicine and cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. She said it's those lenient federal standards that are the problem.

"What the device industry is doing is certainly legal," Redberg told the Times. "There needs to be congressional action to improve the requirements for the safety and effectiveness of high-risk medical devices. A lot of people have these devices or they are candidates for one."

In a report issued last year, the Institute for Medicine said the current approval process for medical devices is flawed and called on the FDA to develop new regulations to ensure patient safety.

About 17 percent of American adults have an implanted medical device, according to a recent survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

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Ruling Allowing Payments to Bone Marrow Donors Will Stand: Court

The legality of allowing bone marrow donors to be paid for their donations will not be reconsidered by a federal appeals court.

In a ruling late last year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the criminality of paying bone marrow donors, an offence that could be punished by jail time, the Associated Press reported.

The court said a technical advance makes the process of donating bone marrow nearly identical to giving blood plasma. Blood donors can be paid for their donations but payments for donating a kidney or any other organ are illegal.

On Tuesday, the court declined the federal government's request to reconsider the ruling, which is opposed by a number of organizations and activists in the organ-donation community. The government has 90 days to petition the U.S. Supreme Court, the AP reported.

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Virginia Man Recovering Well After Face Transplant

U.S. doctors say they've performed the world's most extensive face transplant on a 37-year-old Virginia man who was injured in a 1997 gun accident.

Richard Lee Norris received a new face, teeth, tongue and jaw in a 36-hour operation last week at the University of Maryland Medical Center, the Associated Press reported.

Doctors said Norris is recovering well, beginning to feel his face, is already brushing his teeth and shaving, and has regained his sense of smell.

Norris has lived as recluse for the past 15 years and the face transplant will give him his life back, according to lead surgeon Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez.

"It's a surreal experience to look at him. It's hard not to stare. Before, people used to stare at Richard because he wore a mask and they wanted to see the deformity," Rodriguez told the AP. "Now, they have another reason to stare at him, and it's really amazing."

The world's first face transplant was performed in France in 2005 and the first face transplant in the U.S. was in 2008.

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Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Who Quit Statins May Face Raised Death Risk

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Older Travelers at Much Higher Risk of Dying From Malaria

HealthDay – 39 mins ago WEDNESDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- Tourists over age 65 who visit malaria-infested regions are nearly 10 times more likely to die from the disease than those ages 18 to 35, a new study says.

The analysis of 20 years of data from more than 25,000 U.K. patients also found that the malaria death rate is particularly high among people who've traveled to Gambia, West Africa.

The risk of dying from malaria, an infection carried by mosquitoes, increased with age, and the death rate for those over age 65 was 4.6 percent. There were no deaths in children younger than age 5, according to the study published online March 28 in the British Medical Journal.

The researchers also found that tourists were more than nine times more likely to die from malaria than people of African heritage who traveled to see family or friends -- 3 percent vs. 0.32 percent.

This decreased death risk among people of African heritage may be due to early exposure to malaria, or to greater awareness of the symptoms and a tendency to seek medical help earlier, the study authors said in a journal news release.

The overall death rate from malaria for people who visited Gambia was especially high (3.9 percent) compared to those who visited other countries in West Africa (0.4 percent). Among tourists, the death rate was 6 percent for those who visited Gambia compared with 1.4 percent for those who visited other West African countries.

Travel to malaria-infected regions is increasing, and the U.K. has one of the highest rates of imported malaria in the world, according to the researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Oxford.

They said doctors need to make travelers aware that malaria is common, possibly fatal and requires early diagnosis. Doctors must stress to travelers the importance of taking anti-malaria drugs and of seeing a doctor immediately if they have a fever when they return home.

Each year, 250 million cases of malaria occur worldwide, resulting in more than 800,000 related deaths, the release said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about malaria.

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Obesity Rates Rise Among Mexican-Americans: Report

HealthDay – 39 mins ago WEDNESDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- The obesity rate among Mexican-American adults aged 20 to 74 increased from about 21 percent to nearly 35 percent between 1982 and 2006, a new federal report reveals.

In addition, the analysis of data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) and the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey showed that Mexican-American adults born in the United States had a higher rate of obesity than those born outside the country.

And the obesity situation does not seem to be improving, based on the results of a recent NHANES study that reported that obesity prevalence had increased in 2009-2010 to over 40 percent among Mexican-American adults over 20 years of age, according to a news release from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new findings, published Wednesday in the CDC's National Health Statistics Reports, also revealed that the diabetes rate among Mexican-Americans aged 20 to 74 rose from 9.7 percent to 13.7 percent during the 1982-2006 study period.

Cheryl Fryar, of the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues noted that women consumed more carbohydrates than men in all the survey years but, overall, the consumption of carbohydrates increased from nearly 46 percent to 51 percent of calories among Mexican-American men and women.

Other findings on dietary and health changes among Mexican-Americans over the 25-year period include:

Protein consumption declined from about 17.3 percent to 15.8 percent of calories, and total fat intake decreased from 35.5 percent to under 32 percent of calories.The prevalence of high blood pressure remained relatively stable during the study period at about 22 percent.The percentage of Mexican-American adults with cavities fell from 90 percent to 83 percent.

"Monitoring trends in diet and health conditions among Mexican-American adults can inform the development of targeted prevention efforts to improve the health of this rapidly increasing population," the authors concluded in the report.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about Mexican American health.

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