Causes of weight loss

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

New Test Helps Evaluate Cancer Drug's Merit

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What Makes the End-of-Life Experience Peaceful?

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago MONDAY, July 9 (HealthDay News) -- Dying patients face their final days better if they are not in the hospital, not on a feeding tube or chemotherapy and feel that they have a trusting relationship with their doctor, a new survey of terminally ill cancer patients reveals.

Other factors that helped them find peace in the end, the survey showed, were prayer, meditation, a pastor's visit and freedom from excessive worry or anxiety.

The survey involved about 400 U.S. patients with advanced cancer who were told they had less than six months to live, and their closest caregiver, usually a spouse. The cancer patients, whose average age was 59, were surveyed an average of four months before they died. Their caregivers were then surveyed about the end-of-life experience.

Several factors determined how the patients and their caregivers rated their quality of life at the end. Among the most important: not dying in the intensive care unit or hospital; not having to endure aggressive, life-prolonging treatments at the end, such as feeding tubes or chemotherapy; and feeling their doctor saw them as a whole person and treated them with respect, said lead study author Holly Prigerson, director of the Center for Psychosocial Epidemiology and Outcomes Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

"What the results suggest is that attention to patients' psychosocial needs, their spiritual needs, their comfort, their worries, their need to not be abandoned by their health care team and to feel valuable and significant are the things that matter most to the patients and their families," Prigerson added.

"It's not . . . how much chemo or what procedures are performed or heroics. In fact, it's the opposite. It's the human connection that seemed to be the most important

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Health Highlights: July 9, 2012

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Criminalizing Gay Behavior Hinders Fight Against HIV/AIDS: Report

A new report says laws that criminalize gay behavior waste resources and interfere with efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

The Global Commission on HIV and the Law also slammed a number of other laws, such as those that deny youths access to sex education and make sex work a crime and prevent interventions, Agence France-Presse reported.

The report is based on "extensive research and first-hand accounts from more than 1,000 people in 140 countries," the commission said in a statement.

"Too many countries waste vital resources by enforcing archaic laws that ignore science and perpetuate stigma," commission chair and former president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso said in a statement, AFP reported.

"We have a chance to free future generations from the threat of HIV. We cannot allow injustice and intolerance to undercut this progress," Cardoso said.

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Frozen Meatballs, Patties Recalled Due to Listeria Risk

Nearly 325,000 pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat beef and chicken meatballs and patties are being recalled by New Jersey-based Buona Vita, Inc. due to possible listeria contamination, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) says.

The packages of recalled products carry the establishment number "P-954" or "Est. 954" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The products were distributed nationwide.

The problem was discovered through tests conducted by FSIS and the Ohio Department of Agriculture. To date, there have been no reports of illnesses associated with the products, according to FSIS.

For more information about the recall, consumers can go to the USDA/FSIS website.

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Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Detected in Cambodian Outbreak

The virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease has been detected in an outbreak that has killed at least 52 children in Cambodia, health officials say.

But they noted that the investigation is ongoing and other illnesses, including dengue, have also been associated with some of the cases, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The outbreak began in early April and was first reported as an unexplained illness involving respiratory and neurological symptoms. Laboratory samples are not available for most of the cases because many victims died before samples could be collected, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization.

But officials said that the virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease was present in a "significant proportion" of the samples that were collected from patients, WSJ reported.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is a common infectious illness in infants and children. It typically causes symptoms such as fever, painful mouth sores and a skin rash.

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Health Tip: Help Kids Have an Active Summer

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago (HealthDay News) -- It's summertime, and the living is easy for kids out of school. But parents should help their children stay active while the weather is hot.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests how kids can enjoy a healthy summer vacation:

Encourage kids to visit with friends in person, instead of chatting with them on the phone.Shut down the computer and video games, and have the kids go outside for a game of tennis, a hike or rollerblading.Enroll the kids in a community sports league or sign them up to run or walk in a 5k.Volunteer the kids for a summer camp, clean-up effort, community garden or project to build homes.Have the kids babysit and take their charges for bike rides or to the park.

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Health Tip: Going Scuba Diving?

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago (HealthDay News) -- Scuba diving requires careful training and preparation, or you can suffer the health effects of the difference in pressure between the spaces in your body and the higher water pressure as you dive deeper.

Diving without training can raise your risk of problems including dizziness, chest pain and shortness of breath. More serious medical problems can include decompression sickness (the "bends").

The American Academy of Family Physicians offers these general guidelines for safer scuba diving:

Don't push yourself beyond your comfort level, and always stay within your dive plan.Slowly and gently equalize the pressure in your mask and ears as you descend and ascend.Educate yourself on local dangers, such as currents, tides and dangerous marine life.Always dive with a buddy and stay calm and relaxed; turn to your buddy if you need help.Always use the proper equipment.Make sure your doctor says it's safe for you to dive.Never drink alcohol before a dive.

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U.S. High Schools Lax in Preventing Dating Abuse: Study

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Babies With Pets Not Dogged by Colds: Study

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago MONDAY, July 9 (HealthDay News) -- Babies who live with dogs and cats during their first year of life may be less susceptible to respiratory infections, such as the common cold, according to new research.

The study of nearly 400 children found that dogs were especially protective, and the babies who lived with dogs during their first year were about one-third more likely to be healthy during their first year, compared to babies who didn't have a pet in the home. Babies with dogs in the home were 44 percent less likely to develop an ear infection, and 29 percent less likely to need antibiotics than their petless peers.

"Children who had dog contacts at home were healthier and had less frequent ear infections and needed fewer courses of antibiotics than children who had no dog contacts," said the study's lead author, Dr. Eija Bergroth, a pediatrician who worked at Kuopio University Hospital, in Finland, at the time of the study.

Bergroth also noted that "cat contacts did not seem to have as strong of an impact on infection frequency in multivariate analysis as the dog contacts."

Results of the study, released online July 9, will be published in the August print issue of Pediatrics.

Previous research on pets in the home has suggested that animals, and dogs in particular, may provide some protection against the development of asthma and allergies. But, other studies have found that household pets may increase the number of respiratory infections in children, according to background information in the study.

To get a better idea of the impact of pets on a child's health, Bergroth and her colleagues reviewed data from a study of 208 children whose mothers were recruited during their last trimester of pregnancy. The mothers were from rural areas in Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Switzerland.

The study also included data from 216 mothers living in rural or suburban areas in Finland, who gave birth at Kuopio University Hospital in Finland. After excluding children with incomplete information, researchers looked at data from 397 children overall.

During the first year of life, 72 percent of the children experienced a fever, 40 percent had an ear infection, 97 percent had a runny nose, 84 percent had a cough and 32 percent wheezed at some point. Almost half of the children were given antibiotics at least once during their first year of life, according to the study.

Sixty-two percent of the children had a dog, and 34 percent had a cat at some time during the study. But, at the end of the 11-month study, almost two-thirds of parents said they had no dog in the home, and three-quarters said they had no cat.

Overall, children who had some exposure to dogs or cats in the home were healthier than those who didn't. They had fewer weeks with cough, ear infections and runny noses, according to the study. They also needed fewer courses of antibiotics.

Exposure to cats also showed a protective effect, but it wasn't as strong as the effect from dog exposure.

Bergroth said it's not clear how dogs might offer protection against respiratory illnesses.

"One possible explanation might be that the dogs bring something inside the house -- dirt, soil -- that affects the immune maturation of the child, leading to more composed immunologic reactions to infectious agents later when the child comes in contact with viruses and bacteria," she said.

A U.S. expert said the explanation might not be so simple.

"Having pets may have some positive aspects. Pets may offer some protection against developing a propensity for infections or atopic diseases, but I think the development of the immune system is very complicated," said Dr. Jennifer Appleyard, chief of allergy and immunology at St. John Hospital and Medical Center, in Detroit.

"Parents shouldn't feel guilty about having or not having a pet when their child is young. If you want a pet, get a pet," she advised.

Bergroth said she wouldn't tell parents whether or not to get a pet, but that her study's findings suggest that there is "no reason to avoid animal contacts because of fear of infections, at least not respiratory infections." She added that if there's a family history of allergies, it's more difficult to make recommendations regarding pets, and that the decision must be made on a case-by-case basis.

More information

Learn more about potential health benefits from having a dog or cat from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

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Venezuela's Chavez says "totally free" of cancer, again

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Lance Armstrong's Suit Against USADA Quickly Dismissed

Dr. Oz: Different Side of Famed Heart Surgeon

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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Babies in dog-owning families may be healthier: study

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Smoking in movies may turn teens to cigarettes: study

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