Causes of weight loss

Thursday, May 31, 2012

More Families Seek Kidney Donations on Facebook

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago WEDNESDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- More patients and families are using Facebook to seek kidney donations, but it's not clear if doing do improves the chances of obtaining a donor organ, a new study finds.

Researchers from Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill., examined 91 Facebook pages that were seeking kidney donations for patients aged 2 to 69 and found that 12 percent of the pages reported receiving a kidney transplant and 30 percent reported that potential donors had come forward to be tested for compatibility.

One page reported that more than 600 people had been tested as potential donors for a child, according to the study recently presented at a meeting of the National Kidney Foundation.

On kidney solicitation pages where identities could be determined, the researchers found that 37 percent of the pages were created by patients, 31 percent by patient's children, and 32 percent by other family members or friends of patients.

There was wide variation in the amount of personal information revealed on the pages. Some pages simply asked people to donate, without providing any other information. Other patients offered extensive details about patients who needed kidneys, including medical history, family photos and emotional stories about hospital stays, emergency room visits, financial problems and the difficulties of living on dialysis.

White patients and those with more than 50 posts by other people were most likely to succeed in having people agree to be tested to determine if they were compatible to donate a kidney, said kidney specialist Dr. Alexander Chang, a nephrology fellow at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, and colleagues.

They noted a number of ethical concerns. Three percent of the pages received offers to sell kidneys, mostly from people in Third World countries. Would-be donors typically asked for $30,000 to $40,000. Selling organs is illegal.

Only 5 percent of the pages seeking donations mentioned the risks of kidney donations, and only 11 percent mentioned the associated costs.

"Use of social media could be an effective way to solicit kidney donation, but more study is needed to determine how to do this safely and with enough knowledge to make informed decisions," Chang said in a Loyola news release.

More information

The National Kidney Foundation has more about kidney transplantation.

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Obesity May Raise Odds for Painful Leg Condition

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago WEDNESDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- The health risks associated with being overweight and obese are well publicized, but new research may add another condition to this list: leg lymphedema, pain and swelling due to blockage of the lymph nodes in the groin area.

Lymphedema in the arms traditionally is associated with breast cancer surgery that involves removal of or damage to the lymph nodes. A blockage in the lymphatic system can prevent proper drainage of lymph fluid. As fluid builds up, pain and swelling can occur.

In a letter published in the May 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Arin Greene and colleagues at Children's Hospital Boston reported on 15 obese individuals with swelling in both legs. They diagnosed five of these individuals with leg lymphedema, and the cause of the condition was obesity.

"We now believe that obesity is a risk factor for lymphedema if the body-mass index becomes greater than 60," Greene said. "It only seems to affect the legs, but we have not investigated the arms."

Individuals in the study who had a body-mass index (BMI) lower than 54 had normal lymphatic function. The average BMI of the patients with lymphedema was 70; BMI of 30 or greater is considered obese. BMI is a measure of body fat based on an individual's height and weight.

Other risk factors for leg lymphedema include injury to the lymph nodes in the groin because of infection, surgery or radiation. In addition, people can be born with the condition. Regardless of the cause, leg lymphedema can cause pain, swelling and infections.

Although there is no cure for lymphedema, compression and significant weight loss may help relieve the pain and swelling, Greene said.

Lymphedema in the legs manifests itself as swelling, pain, discomfort, tightness in the skin, decreased flexibility and difficulty walking, said Cathy Kleinman-Barnett, a lymphedema specialist at the Lymphedema/Edema Management Program at Northwest Medical Center in Margate, Fla.

"Obesity causes lymphedema because the sheer additional weight puts too much pressure on the lymph nodes in the groin area, compromising the system," she said. "This causes a fluid backup like a clogged drain. Skin can thicken, harden and become red, dry and warm to touch."

It's important to treat the condition, she added, because "it can really interfere with a person's quality of life in a physical and a psychosocial way as people may be less inclined to go out and interact with others."

Kleinman-Barnett said lymphedema therapists can prescribe a program of manual lymphatic drainage, which helps direct lymph flow out of the congested areas. Recommendations on skin care, compression bandaging and exercises also can help, she said.

More than 35 percent of U.S. adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity already is known to increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and certain types of cancer.

More information

Get tips for preventing lymphedema at the National Lymphedema Network.

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Pre-op Treatments Boost Survival for Esophageal Cancer Patients: Study

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Humans Can Sniff Out Old Age in Others, Study Shows

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago WEDNESDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- How old do you think you smell? A new study suggests that humans possess the ability to judge whether a person has reached their senior years just by sniffing their body odor.

People in the study correctly gauged whether the former wearer of an underarm pad was elderly or not just by sniffing it. And for the record, most didn't think "old-people smell" was off-putting at all.

The finding "shows that there's yet another signal hidden in the body odor that we are somehow able to extract and make use of," said study co-author Johan Lundstrom, an assistant professor at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, in Philadelphia.

As for the notion that "old-people smell" doesn't leave people as disgusted as you might expect, Lundstrom said the odor's power -- or lack thereof -- appears to have a lot to do with whether the elderly are actually physically present. "Lacking a context, the negativity of the body odors disappear," he said.

The study authors launched their research as part of an effort to better understand the chemical signals that people detect in body odor. Previous research had suggested that we can pick up signs of sickness in other people's body odor and even get a sense of whether someone is related to us, Lundstrom said.

Animals appear to be able to detect age through body odor, he said, although it's not clear why it might matter to them. One theory is that the signal could let other animals know that an animal is older and thus more likely to produce offspring because it's managed to stay alive so long, he said.

In the new study, 56 people -- 20 young (20 to 30 years old), 20 middle-aged (45 to 55), and 16 elderly (75 to 95) -- wore clean T-shirts and underarm pads while sleeping. The pads soaked up a sample of each individual's body odor.

The researchers then asked 41 young people to smell the resulting odors -- from pads kept in glass jars -- and try to tell them apart.

Participants were generally able to discriminate between the age groups, but they weren't much better at it than chance, Lundstrom said. However, they were able to do a better job of grouping together body odors from older people and identifying them as coming from the elderly.

"The old-age body odor sticks out," Lundstrom said, but it didn't do so in a negative way. In fact, the subjects tended to think the old age body odors were more pleasant and less intense than those of other age groups.

One factor might explain that: Older men smell more like women, possibly because they've lost testosterone, Lundstrom said.

He also noted that the people who provided their body odor for the study were healthy. That means the older people did not suffer from problems that can occur among seniors that might affect their body odors, such as incontinence.

The "popular prejudice" against the odor of the elderly probably reflects people's distaste for odors in geriatric wards and nursing homes, noted one expert, Tim Jacob, a professor of biosciences at Cardiff University, in England, who studies smell and is familiar with the new study's findings.

"This is obviously an unfair association," he said. "But if people know where the smell originates

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They're Cute, But Baby Chicks Can Harbor Salmonella

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'Cooling' Helps Oxygen-Deprived Newborns: Study

Men's Offices Germier Than Women's

Men’s offices harbor significantly more bacteria than women’s, according to a new study published in the online journal PLoS ONE.

The types of bacteria are the same, and come mostly from the skin, nose, mouth and digestive tract. Several types are also commonly found in feces.

Researchers from the San Diego State University and the University of Arizona took 450 samples from different office surfaces in New York City, San Francisco and Tucson, Ariz.

Chairs and phones had the highest amount of bacteria, while desktops, keyboards and computer mice had fewer bacteria.

One of the main reasons the researchers did the study was to learn more about what microorganisms inhabit workplaces.

“Westerners spend about 90 percent of time indoors in artificial environments that we build, and workplaces are where we spend a lot of our time,” said co-author Scott Kelley, a professor of biology at San Diego State.

Kelly said he believes men’s work spaces have more bacteria simply because men are generally bigger than women, though there could also be other reasons.

For example, he said, “Skin is a major source of the bacteria, and if men’s hands are physically bigger, there’s more surface area to colonize bacteria. Men’s mouths are also bigger.”

Philip Tierno, a clinical professor microbiology and pathology at NYU Langone Medical Center, said another reason is that men just aren’t as clean as women.

“Men tend to be less tidy. They wash their hands less than women and tend to be a little more cavalier about eating from the floor or from other surfaces,” he said. Tierno was not involved in the study. “Also, numerous people touch chairs and phones, but not as many people touch keyboards.”

Previous research found that the opposite is true — women’s offices are more contaminated than men’s, perhaps in part because women use cosmetics and are more likely to store food in their desks.

One reason for the discrepancy between the studies, Tierno said, is the method used to identify the bacteria. Kelley’s study uses molecular methods, which are more sensitive and specific than the culture-based identification used in other research.

In addition to differences between men and women, Kelley said the study also found that there was no significant difference between the types of bacteria found in offices in San Francisco and New York. In Tucson, though, there were different types of bacteria associated with drier, desert-like climates.

Though there may be a lot of bacteria in office spaces, Kelley said, most of it doesn’t do much harm.

“Most of what’s brought in is harmless, but it’s very easy to spread. If someone gets sick, they should stay home because they are bring bacteria in with them and making others sick.”

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House votes to approve FDA funding bill

Reuters – 4 hrs ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill that helps fund the Food and Drug Administration and gives it new authority to prevent drug shortages and speed reviews of medical devices.

Passed by a vote of 387-5, the bill also helps ensure the safety of drugs imported from abroad by collecting higher fees from companies to fund FDA inspections of foreign facilities, and gives drugmakers incentives to make antibiotics for conditions where few treatments exist.

The Senate passed its own version of the bill last week with a near-unanimous vote, and leaders from both sides of Congress must now meet to iron out any differences. House leaders said they are aiming to agree on a final bill by July 4.

The main purpose of the bill is to reauthorize fees from makers of drugs and devices that help speed FDA evaluation of new medical products. These so-called "user fees" could make up nearly half of the FDA's proposed $4.5 billion budget next year, according to a plan from President Barack Obama.

Since the bill provides such a large chunk of FDA funding, it is considered a "must-pass" measure that can serve as a vehicle for broader FDA-related changes.

Both the Senate and House versions, for example, give the FDA power to force drug companies to report any supply disruptions, so the FDA can work with other manufacturers to ramp up production and avoid drug shortages. Certain kinds of cancer, anesthetic, and nutrition medicines have been in persistent short supply in the past few years, often because of manufacturing problems.

Senate lawmakers say they want to work with the House to include a national system for tracking medications in order to minimize the threat of fake or stolen drugs.

The FDA has been pushing for a uniform plan that would track individual vials of medicine. But companies, distributors and pharmacies say it may be too expensive, and propose an alternative plan that would track much larger "lots" of drugs. They say their plan would pave the way for more stringent rules later.

The Senate version of the FDA bill includes room for a law that would require a uniform drug tracing system, but it may be cut if lawmakers cannot decide on the details of the plan.

The Senate and House versions of the bill disagree on some other issues, including some medical device safety provisions, and which antibiotics could qualify for incentives, depending on the medical conditions they treat.

Industry user fees, first enacted in 1992, give the FDA millions of dollars annually to review new products for the U.S. market but must be renewed every five years. The current version is set to expire in September.

Starting this year, for the first time the FDA will collect fees from makers of generic drugs and of copycat versions of complex biotech drugs, known as biosimilars.

(Reporting by Anna Yukhananov; editing by Carol Bishopric)

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States crack down on prescription-drug "doctor shopping"

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California's Senate passes bill to ban gay therapy

Radioactive bluefin tuna crossed the Pacific to US

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FDA warns about counterfeit Adderall tablets

The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers that a counterfeit version of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Adderall is being sold over the Internet.

The FDA says the product purports to be 30-milligram Adderall tablets, but it does not contain the right ingredients. The pills contain the pain drugs tramadol and acetaminophen instead. The agency says the counterfeit tablets are white and round, and they do not have any markings like letters or numbers. Genuine Adderall tablets are an orange/peach color and have the letters "dp" embossed on one side with the number 30 on the opposite side.

Adderall is made by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and it is used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy. The drug is in short supply because of shortages of the active ingredients.

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