Study Gives Laxative-Free Virtual Colonoscopy High Marks

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Being Obese May Make Job Search Tougher

HealthDay – 45 mins ago THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- It was the small square photo clipped to an applicant's resume that most influenced whether a woman would be hired. But there was a hidden catch: The pictures showed the same six women both before and after weight-loss surgery.

The end result: The "employers" in the study rated these six women more poorly when their photos were taken when they were obese.

For the research, published recently in the International Journal of Obesity, the 95 raters actually were New Zealand undergraduate students who weren't aware that weight bias was the real focus of the study.

"Clearly, these were not actual employers," said study co-author Janet Latner, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii. "But they are people who will enter the workforce, and the underlying prejudice that they're displaying could ultimately affect their decisions regarding future colleagues."

The study participants -- mostly female -- received information packages on "candidates" to evaluate for a potential managerial position. The bogus resumes were equivalent as far as skills, experience and education.

The women shown in the photos had been located on websites. To rule out other appearance-based biases, the six women were of similar ages, from 29 to 32, and of European descent.

Before surgery, the women's body-mass index (BMI) -- a measure of body fat based on weight and height -- ranged from 38 to 41. A BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. After surgery, the women's BMI ranged from 22 to 24, considered normal weight.

The student "employers" rated candidates for starting salary, leadership potential and likelihood of being hired.

Based on the ratings, larger women had less chance of being hired. And if they managed to pass that hurdle, they still would have faced lower salaries and limited career progression.

The more attractive the raters considered themselves, the stronger the weight bias they displayed, researchers found. Having personality traits such as authoritarianism also was associated with being more biased.

Males weren't evaluated in the study, which leaves open the question of whether obese men face a similar bias.

"Men certainly face discrimination as well, but the research shows that they have to get to a higher weight in order for their weight to be consequential," said Michaela Null, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., whose research focus is fat studies.

Such hiring bias isn't just a hypothetical. In 2011, a Texas hospital instituted a policy that job candidates had to have a BMI of less than 35, but the hospital withdrew the policy in April.

"We sent a letter to

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Health Tip: Get the Most From Your Nap

HealthDay – 45 mins ago (HealthDay News) -- As more people join the ranks of the sleep-deprived, experts say a daily nap may do a world of good. Then again, poor napping habits can leave you groggier than before.

The National Sleep Foundation offers this advice about feeling refreshed after a nap:

Keep your nap to no more than 30 minutes. Sleeping longer can make you feel groggy, and cause you to have trouble sleeping at night.Nap in a comfortable environment that's cool, dark and quiet.Don't nap too late in the day, to avoid interfering with bedtime.Don't nap too early in the day either, as your body may not be ready for sleep again.

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Health Highlights: May 17, 2012

HealthDay – 45 mins ago Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Woman With Flesh-Eating Disease Views Damaged Hands

There have been no tears as the 24-year-old Georgia woman with a rare flesh-eating infection inspects her badly damaged hands and asks questions about them, according to her father.

Andy Copeland told the Associated Press that he and other family members told Aimee Copeland that "your hands have been damaged ... and we're trying to bring back as much of the life into the hands as possible."

"She was well accepting. No tears or anything," Andy Copeland said.

However, his daughter doesn't know that doctors plan to amputate all of her fingers and it's not clear if she's aware that her left leg was amputated, the AP reported.

Aimee Copeland remains in critical condition with the flesh-eating infection she contracted after she suffered a gash in her left leg in a zip-lining accident.

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Healthy Food Cheaper than Unhealthy Food: Study

Most fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods cost less than foods laden with sugar, salt and fat, according to a U.S. Agriculture Department study that challenges the common perception that unhealthy food is cheaper than nutritious food.

It all depends on how price is measured, according to the study authors. Looking at price per calorie may make unhealthy foods appear cheaper, but healthy foods are cheaper if cost is compared by weight or portion size, the Associated Press reported.

Using the second method shows that foods such as bananas, carrots, lettuce and pinto beans are less expensive per portion than foods such as ground beef, french fries, soft drinks and ice cream.

"Using price per calorie doesn't tell you how much food you're going to get or how full you are going to feel," said Andrea Carlson, a study author and scientist at the USDA's Economic Research Service, the AP reported.

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More U.S. Doctors Use E-Prescribing

The proportion of U.S. doctors using electronic prescriptions increased from 22 percent at the end of 2010 to 36 percent at the end of 2011, according to a new report from Surescripts, the largest network for paperless prescribing.

The analysis of 40 million written, phoned, faxed or electronic prescriptions also found a 10 percent increase in patients who fill a prescription when it's e-prescribed, the Associated Press reported.

The federal government has been pushing doctors to e-prescribe. This year, holdouts will begin seeing cuts in their Medicare payments.

E-prescriptions can be safer for patients. Pharmacists don't have to struggle with doctors' poor handwriting and computerized ordering systems make it easy for doctors to check that a newly-prescribed drug won't interact badly with one already being taken by a patient, the AP reported.

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California TB Patient Arrested for Not Taking Medication

A California man with tuberculosis has been jailed for refusing to take medication to prevent his disease from becoming contagious.

Armando Rodriguez, 34, of Stockton has active pulmonary TB, which can include coughing up blood or phlegm that can spread through the air, according to health authorities, the Associated Press reported.

In a letter requesting a warrant for Rodriguez's arrest, San Joaquin County Nursing Director Ginger Wick said Rodriguez was not complying with his treatment and could become contagious as a result.

Rodriguez was arrested Tuesday. It's expected he will be arraigned Thursday on two misdemeanor counts of refusing to comply with a TB order to be at home at certain times and make appointments to take his medication, the AP reported.

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HDL 'Good' Cholesterol Not Protective Against Heart Disease: Study

So-called "good" HDL cholesterol may not be so good after all, a new study suggests.

It's been widely believed that increasing HDL levels in your blood could the lower your risk of heart disease. Currently, companies are developing and testing drugs that boost HDL levels, The New York Times reported.

But researchers who analyzed databases of genetic information found that raising HDL levels may not make any difference to heart disease risk. The study found that people with genes that give them naturally higher HDL levels had no less heart disease than those with genes that give them slightly lower HDL levels.

If HDL actually offered protection, people with genes that give them higher HDL levels should have less heart disease, said study leader Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, director of preventive cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a geneticist at the Broad Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard, and colleagues.

The study was published online Wednesday in The Lancet.

"I'd say the HDL hypothesis is on the ropes right now," Dr. James A. de Lemos, a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, told The Times. He was not involved in the study.

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'Fish Pedicure' a Recipe for Bacterial Infection, Researchers Warn

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Athletes Really Do Play Through the Pain

HealthDay – 45 mins ago THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- A new study confirms the widespread belief that athletes can tolerate more pain than other people, a finding that may hold clues for managing pain in the general population.

German researchers reviewed 15 studies that included a total of more than 550 athletes and more than 330 people with normal activity levels. The studies included both men and women, and evaluated pain thresholds (the minimum level of intensity at which a person feels pain) and tolerance (the maximum level of pain a person can handle before it becomes too much).

Although pain threshold didn't differ between athletes and other adults, the review found that athletes had consistently higher pain tolerance. The amount of pain athletes could endure varied depending on the type of sport.

For example, endurance athletes had moderate pain tolerance and their scores were fairly uniform. Athletes involved in game sports had a higher tolerance for pain than other athletes, but there was wide variation in their scores.

These results suggest that endurance athletes are more alike in their physical and mental profiles, while athletes involved in game sports are more diverse, the researchers from the University of Heidelberg said.

The findings, which appear in the June issue of the journal Pain, may prove useful in pain management. Prior research has found that exercise can help improve quality of life and functioning in non-athletes with pain, even if the pain itself doesn't go away, lead investigator Dr. Jonas Tesarz said in a journal news release.

"It may be advisable in exercise treatment for pain patients to focus on the development of their pain-coping skills that would affect tolerance, rather than the direct alleviation of pain threshold," Tesarz said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about pain.

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Two-Drug Combo May Be Safe for Melanoma Treatment

HealthDay – 45 mins ago WEDNESDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- A preliminary, first-stage study funded by a pharmaceutical company shows promising results for an experimental double-drug therapy for melanoma.

The two drugs, known as dabrafenib and trametinib, appeared to delay progression of the potentially deadly skin cancer with fewer side effects than an existing drug called vemurafenib (Zelboraf).

However, the research into the drug combination is only in the first of three phases required before the U.S. government can approve its use. The first phase is designed to test the safety of a medication, not whether it works.

Unlike some other cancers, melanoma has stubbornly resisted advances in treatment. About 70,000 Americans are diagnosed with melanoma each year, and about 8,000 of those will die from the disease.

Researchers tested the drug combo in patients with advanced melanoma and a genetic mutation that exists in about half of all melanomas.

"Not only are the two drugs causing shrinkage of the cancer, but we're seeing that a second anti-cancer therapy may actually suppress the side effects of the first," said Dr. Jeffrey Weber, director of the Donald A. Adam Comprehensive Melanoma Research Center at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Fla., in a news release from the American Society of Clinical Oncologists.

Vemurafenib, approved last year, aims to prevent progression of the cancer in these patients. But patients' tumors eventually become immune to its effects.

The new analysis looks at 77 patients who took the combination therapy. Their cancer didn't progress for an average of 7.4 months, similar to what was seen in previous research with vemurafenib only. The researchers haven't released statistics about their survival rates.

Skin lesions, a side effect, were much less common in the patients on the combination therapy than in patients who took vemurafenib.

Ashani Weeraratna, an assistant professor in the Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program at the Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, agreed that the combo therapy does seem to reduce the skin lesion side effects.

"This is important for patients that, in addition to battling a deadly disease, also have to deal with the discomfort associated with the secondary lesions," Weeraratna said. "Having said that, I do think most of us would pick getting what is essentially an uncomfortable rash over not receiving a cutting-edge therapy that might eradicate our metastatic melanoma."

Dr. Martin Weinstock, a professor of dermatology and epidemiology at Brown University in Providence, R.I., expressed some caution. "Ideally, what we need is to figure out how to cure most people with a regimen that doesn't have devastating side effects," he said. "We don't have that yet, and it doesn't look like this will be that either."

The results were scheduled for release Wednesday, prior to presentation June 4 at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists in Chicago. The data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The study was funded by the drug company GlaxoSmithKline, and Weber has received financial support from the pharmaceutical company.

More information

For more about melanoma, see the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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Early Study Hints at Link Between Certain Sunscreens, Endometriosis

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Benefits of Widespread Statin Use Outweigh Risks: Study

HealthDay – 45 mins ago THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Statins -- commonly used cholesterol-lowering drugs -- can significantly lower the risk for heart disease in people with no history of vascular disease, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Oxford in England found the medication reduced the risk of major heart-related problems, such as hearts attacks and strokes, in men and women of all ages with heart disease -- as well as those with no previous history of the condition -- by about 20 percent.

The benefits of widespread statin use outweigh any known side effects, said the study's authors, led by Colin Baigent, a professor in the clinical trial service unit and epidemiological studies unit at Oxford. The researchers said their findings should prompt a review of national and international guidelines on these drugs.

Current U.S. and European guidelines restrict statin use to people with at least a 20 percent risk of having a major vascular event within 10 years.

For their study, researchers examined 27 randomized trials involving 175,000 people. They investigated the effects of lowering LDL cholesterol with statins by grouping the patients into risk categories and comparing results. The researchers specifically explored whether statins were used and, if so, the intensity of the patients' therapy.

The study revealed that statins reduced the risk of serious vascular events by 21 percent in each of the five risk groups the researchers identified, including those at lowest risk for vascular disease.

The study was published online Wednesday in The Lancet.

The study's authors noted the benefits of statin therapy outweigh any known risks. This is true even for those with a five-year risk of a major vascular event lower than 10 percent, they said, meaning "people who would typically not be judged suitable for statin treatment."

The researchers said they found no evidence that statin therapy increased the prevalence of cancer or cancer-related deaths.

"Statins may produce small increased risks of hemorrhagic strokes and in diagnoses of diabetes, but the definite benefits of statins greatly outweigh these potential hazards," the authors said in a journal news release.

Half of all vascular events occur in people with no previous vascular history, they said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently required label changes on statin drugs to warn of rare thinking and memory problems associated with their use.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health provides more information on statins.

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Study Explores Distraction's Role in Pain Relief

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Health Tip: Avoid Cross-Contaminating Food

HealthDay – 45 mins ago (HealthDay News) -- Cross-contamination can occur when different foods are stored or prepared together.For example, germs from raw meat can contaminate ready-to-eat foods that are prepared at the same time.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests how to avoid cross-contamination:

In the grocery store, make sure fresh and frozen meat, poultry, fish and eggs are packed separately.On hot days, place groceries in the back seat of your air conditioned car, rather than the trunk.Store all appropriate groceries in the refrigerator or freezer within two hours.Store raw meat, poultry and fish in sealed containers on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator. Keep eggs in their containers on a shelf, rather than in the refrigerator door. Wash reusable grocery bags in hot water.Wash hands and use separate cooking utensils and cutting boards when preparing raw meat, poultry, eggs or fish.

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Fewer Young Americans Smoking, Survey Finds

HealthDay – 45 mins ago THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking rates among American teens and young adults fell between 2004 and 2010, but too many of them still light up, a new federal government report reveals.

The rate of current cigarette use among U.S. teens decreased from nearly 12 percent in 2004 to about 8 percent in 2010, and dropped from nearly 40 percent to about 34 percent among young adults, according to the analysis from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Survey on Drug Use and Health released Thursday.

The percentage of daily smokers among teens fell from just over 3 percent to under 2 percent, and decreased from about 20 percent to nearly 16 percent among young adults during the study period, the survey found.

Among young adults who were daily smokers, the percentage who smoked 26 or more cigarettes a day (about 1

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