Chronic & Non-Communicable diseases

waltky · Sep 20, 2011

Granny says, "Dat's right, we all gonna die - get used to it...

UN: Cancers, Diabetes, Heart & Lung Disease Biggest Killers
September 19, 2011 - The U.N. General Assembly has convened a high-level meeting to discuss the worlds biggest killer - non-communicable diseases. Leaders met Monday to discuss how governments can curb the 36 million deaths each year from preventable and treatable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, lung and heart disease.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the two day session with this warning: The prognosis is grim," said Ban Ki-moon. "According to the World Health Organization, deaths from NCDs (non-communicable diseases) will increase by 17 percent in the next decade. In Africa, that number will jump by 24 percent. These statistics are alarming - but we know how to drive them down. He said the keys to lowering death rates are simple and include increasing exercise, improving nutrition and expanding screening for these diseases.

The secretary-general also urged industry to act responsibly. I especially call on corporations that profit from selling processed foods to children to act with the utmost integrity," he said. "I refer not only to food manufacturers, but also the media, marketing and advertising companies that play central roles in these enterprises. Those who profit from alcohol sales have to do their part to promote moderation in alcohol consumption. And we can all work to end tobacco use.

World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan told the meeting that processed foods which are high in salt, trans fats and sugar have become the new staple food around the world. She said they are readily available and heavily marketed, and for a growing number of people they are the cheapest way to fill hungry stomachs. But she warned that this trend has led to a disturbing expansion of the worlds waistline - a factor that has contributed to the rise of non-communicable diseases. Root causes of these diseases are not being addressed and widespread obesity is the tell tale signal," said Chan. "Worldwide obesity rates have almost doubled since 1980. This is a world in which more than 40 million pre-school children are obese or overweight. This is a world where more than 50 percent of the adult population in some countries is obese or overweight. Obesity is a signal that something is terribly wrong in the policy environment.

The World Health Organization says that nearly 80 percent of cancers, diabetes, heart and lung disease occur in low and middle income countries. These illnesses also have a debilitating socio-economic effect because when a large percentage of the workforce is sick or dies during their productive years, national economies lose billions of dollars in output and millions of families are pushed into poverty, threatening development. The long-term financial effect could also be devastating. Margaret Chan warned that a recent World Economic Forum and Harvard University study estimates that over the next 20 years non-communicable diseases could cost the global economy more than $30 trillion.

In a declaration adopted by the 193-member General Assembly, the body recognizes the scope of the problem and calls for urgent action. It says prevention must be the cornerstone of the response and urges governments to strengthen their national polices and health systems to meet the challenge. Among the recommendations are promoting increased access to cost-effective vaccinations and disease screening programs to aid prevention and early detection. This is only the second time the U.N. General Assembly has taken up a health issue. The first was HIV/AIDS - for which there is no known cure. In the decade since, there has been huge progress on preventing and treating the virus around the world.

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Panzerkampfwagen · Sep 20, 2011

If you decrease one you increase another since we all have to go to something.

waltky · Sep 28, 2011

Every 20 seconds, a child dies of a vaccine-preventable disease...

Experts Stress Use of Vaccines to Controlling Chronic Disease
September 27, 2011 - Health experts at the recent U.N. General Assembly in New York focused attention on new ways to combat the rise of non-communicable diseases, or NCDs, including some caused by infectious diseases that could be prevented with vaccines. That connection adds new urgency to the worldwide drive to immunize.

Every 20 seconds, a child dies of a vaccine-preventable disease. That's why health experts say vaccines are essential and the best investment in health. Seth Berkley is the CEO of the GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership promoting immunizations for children around the world. He attended this years U.N. summit on non-communicable diseases in New York. A number of what we call NCDs turn out to be infectious diseases. About 20 percent of cancer is actually caused by infectious agents. Weve had a lot of success getting rid of hepatitis B, which is the largest cause of liver cancer and we are hoping with the Human Papilloma Virus [HPV vaccine] to be able to get rid of cervical cancer, Berkley said.

Berkley also says his organization is rolling out some new vaccines to combat the two most common causes of childhood deaths: pneumonia and diarrhea. The rotavirus vaccine: the largest cause of viral diarrhea in the developing world, the pneumococcal vaccine which works against the bacteria the pneumococcus, which not only causes pneumonia one of the largest killers in the developing world and can also cause meningitis, Berkley said. The privately-funded United Nations Foundation is promoting a campaign called Shot at Life, to expand access to vaccines to children in developing countries - where more than two million children die before their fifth birthday because they do not get the immunizations they need. David Meltzer, a senior vice president at the American Red Cross, says measles alone kill more than 150,000 children around the world every year including some in the United States.

In the U.S., measles were eliminated and turned to the history books in the 60s and 70s. So it has been out of the minds of many Americans. Yet as recently as 2000, over 700,000 children were dying every year from measles, Meltzer said. Meltzer says people in the United States, including some parents, who connect vaccinating children to autism are wrong. The belief that measles vaccine somehow causes autism, thats a theory that numerous academic and scientific studies have debunke, Meltzer said.

Errol Alden, the CEO of the American Academy of Pediatricians, says the belief that vaccines cause autism only adds to the challenges of getting people vaccinated. The first is the supply. How do we get the vaccine to the countries, how do we setup a system that can give the immunizations. Number two: there are very many myths, falsehoods that spread very quickly about the vaccines and many of those are just not true, Alden said. The World Health Organization says expanding access to vaccines can prevent 1.7 million deaths each year.

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waltky · May 17, 2012

Dat's why Granny always gets her vaccinations...

Non-Communicable Diseases Cause Most Deaths Worldwide
May 16, 2012 - The World Health Organization reports almost two-thirds of all global deaths are due to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. The World Health Statistics Report provides information on the state of health in 194 countries.

Non-communicable diseases are not just a problem of wealthy countries. The World Health Organization says they mainly affect people in poorer countries, of whom half die before they reach the age of 70. Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death, followed by cancers. Data from 194 countries show one in three adults worldwide has elevated blood pressure, a condition that causes around half of all deaths from stroke and heart disease. In many African countries, it notes, as much as half the adult population has high blood pressure. The World Health Organization says most of these people remain undiagnosed. As a consequence, they do not get treated with low-cost medications that could prevent disability or premature death from heart disease and stroke.

WHO Department of Health Statistics Director Ties Boerma said preventable risk factors that cause chronic disease are common across the world. Of course, tobacco is very well known," said Boerma. "Hypertension is very common all around the world and it has only been declining in high-income countries - elsewhere there is really no evidence of a decline. So, these risk factors - another group, of course, physical inactivity and poor diets are also very important. But this report also highlights the obesity epidemic. The report finds obesity has doubled in every region of the world between 1980 and 2008. It says one-half-billion people, 12 percent of the worlds population, are considered obese.

The highest obesity levels are in the Americas and the lowest in South-East Asia. Worldwide, women are more likely to be obese than men, making them at greater risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. WHO Mortality and Burden of Disease program coordinator Colin Mathers said it is difficult to design policies and interventions to tackle obesity. Obesity is a complex interplay of lifestyle, with availability of high-density caloric foods that people like to have and we probably evolved to where we really want to pack the calories on where they are available ... less activity. We are all sedentary, sitting around desks," added Mathers. "So, it is a very complex issue and it involves not only personal choices about whether you eat the extra pack of biscuits or not, but also environmental urban design.

The World Statistics Report finds nearly five million fewer children are dying from diarrhea, measles, pneumonia and other infectious diseases than in 1990. It says maternal deaths have also declined. The report says other advances have been made in reducing new cases of HIV infections, in cutting tuberculosis mortality by more than one-third since 1990 and in lowering malaria deaths.

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waltky · May 26, 2012

Granny says Uncle Ferd got a chronic illness - he chronically allergic to work...

WHO target to cut early chronic illness deaths
25 May`12 - The World Health Organization announced on Friday it was set to approve a new target to reduce premature deaths from chronic illnesses such as heart disease by a quarter by 2025.

Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory conditions are known in medical terms as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and represent the world's biggest killers -- accounting for 63 percent of all deaths. About a quarter of victims die prematurely, between the ages of 30 and 70. Late Thursday, WHO member states meeting in Geneva made a "landmark" decision to fix the 25 percent reduction target which is expected to be formally adopted on Saturday, the UN health agency said. It was agreed along with a raft of measures to address the prevention and control of NCDs, which have rocketed in developing countries in recent years.

About 80 percent of premature deaths from NCDs now occur in low and middle-income countries. "The focus of attention of the world community on the largest killer is now on course," said Douglas Bettcher from the WHO's chronic diseases unit. "The architecture to support developing countries in addressing NCDs and their risk factors is now in place." NCDs also constitute a massive financial burden. A recent Harvard study found that left unattended they could result in lost productivity in low and middle income countries worth $7 trillion up to 2025. "This is something that would, in an era of globalisation and ongoing financial crisis, have major effects for the entire world," said Bettcher.

In the resolution adopted by WHO member states but yet to be formally approved, countries also backed further work aimed at producing targets on NCD risk factors, namely tobacco use, alcohol abuse, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. They called for a formal meeting to be held before the end of October to conclude work on a "global monitoring framework" to prevent and control NCDs.

The World Heart Federation said the adoption of the target would be a "significant milestone" but much work remained to be done. "Although we applaud the progress made at the World Health Assembly this week, the global target in isolation is not enough to tackle one of the most complex health challenges facing the world today," said chief executive Johanna Ralston. "Further targets are needed to shape a framework for action against NCD risk factors, and we urge world leaders to agree on these targets promptly."

http://news.yahoo.com/target-cut-early-chronic-illness-deaths-150651136.html
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waltky · Sep 14, 2012

Granny says dat's why Uncle Ferd don't wanna job - so he don't get stressed out an' have a heart attack...

Work stress 'raises heart risk'
13 September 2012 - Can a stressful job damage the heart?

Having a highly demanding job, but little control over it, could be a deadly combination, UK researchers say. They analysed 13 existing European studies covering nearly 200,000 people and found "job strain" was linked to a 23% increased risk of heart attacks and deaths from coronary heart disease. The risk to the heart was much smaller than for smoking or not exercising, the Lancet medical journal report said.

The British Heart Foundation said how people reacted to work stress was key. Job strain is a type of stress. The research team at University College London said working in any profession could lead to strain, but it was more common in lower skilled workers. Doctors who have a lot of decision-making in their jobs would be less likely to have job strain than someone working on a busy factory production line.

Freedom

There has previously been conflicting evidence on the effect of job strain on the heart. In this paper, the researchers analysed combined data from 13 studies. At the beginning of each of the studies, people were asked whether they had excessive workloads or insufficient time to do their job as well as questions around how much freedom they had to make decisions.Work stress 'raises heart risk'. They were then sorted into people with job strain or not and followed for an average of seven and a half years.

One of the researchers, Prof Mika Kivimaki, from University College London, said: "Our findings indicate that job strain is associated with a small but consistent increased risk of experiencing a first coronary heart disease event, such as a heart attack. The researchers said eliminating job strain would prevent 3.4% of those cases, whereas there would be a 36% reduction if everyone stopped smoking. Prof Kivimaki said the evidence of a direct effect of job strain on the heart was mixed. He told the BBC job strain was linked to other lifestyle choices that were bad for the heart: "We know smokers with job strain are more likely to smoke a bit more, active people with job strain are more likely to become inactive and there is a link with obesity. "If one has high stress at work you can still reduce risk by keeping a healthy lifestyle."

Prof Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "We know that being under stress at work, and being unable to change the situation, could increase your risk of developing heart disease. "This large study confirms this, but also shows that the negative effect of workplace strain is much smaller than, for example, the damage caused by smoking or lack of exercise. "Though stresses at work may be unavoidable, how you deal with these pressures is important, and lighting up a cigarette is bad news for your heart. Eating a balanced diet, taking regular exercise and quitting smoking will more than offset any risk associated with your job." Dr Bo Netterstrom, from Bispebjerg Hospital in Denmark, said other stresses at work such as job insecurity "are likely to be of major importance". He said job strain was "a measure of only part of a psychosocially damaging work environment".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19584526
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waltky · Sep 23, 2012

Granny been usin' sesame oil to cook Uncle Ferd's fried chicken in...

Sesame, rice bran oil cuts blood pressure
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22,`12 (UPI) -- Cooking with a blend of sesame and rice bran oils may reduce blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels, researchers in Japan say.

Dr. Devarajan Sankar, a research scientist in the Department of Cardiovascular Diseaseat Fukuoka University Chikushi Hospital in Chikushino, Japan, said rice bran oil, like sesame oil, is low in saturated fat and appears to improve a patient's cholesterol profile. The study involved 300 equal men and women in New Delhi average age 57 with mild to moderately high blood pressure who were divided into three groups.

One group was treated with the blood pressure lowering medication calcium-channel blocker, or nifedipine. The second group was given 1 ounce of oil blend and told to use it each day in their meals. The third group received the calcium channel blocker and the oil blend. Systolic blood pressure dropped an average of 14 points for those using only the oil blend and 16 points for those taking medication, but those using both oil blend and medication saw a 36-point drop. Diastolic blood pressure -- the bottom number -- also dropped significantly: 11 points for those eating the oil, 12 for those on medication and 24 for those using both.

Those using the oils saw a 26 percent drop in their low-density lipoprotein, the "bad," cholesterol and a 9.5 percent increase in the high-density lipoprotein, the "good" cholesterol. There were no changes in cholesterol for those taking the medication and those taking both had a 27 percent drop in LDL levels and a 10.9 percent increase in the HDL. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research Scientific Sessions in Washington.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012...od-pressure/UPI-27031348292127/#ixzz27L8H3QzF
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waltky · Oct 1, 2012

Rare Meningitis Outbreak Leaves 2 Dead...

2 die in meningitis outbreak; Saint Thomas neurosurgery clinic shuts down
Oct 1, 2012 - Tennessee hospital closes clinic that gave steroid injections

The Tennessee Department of Health is joining forces with the Center for Disease Control to investigate an unusual outbreak of meningitis that has hit 11 Tennesseans so far, killing two of them. The 11 patients who contracted this strain of fungal meningitis in Tennessee received epidural steroid injections at St. Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center between July 30 and Sept. 20. The injections are commonly administered to relieve pain. Another patient was identified in another state who seems to have contracted meningitis after the same procedure.

Although the investigation has yet to reveal a definitive culprit behind the fungal meningitis cluster, said TDH Commissioner Dr. John Dreyzehner, the injections have been recalled and evidence suggests more than a dozen other states could be affected. Two other facilities in Tennessee that purchased and received what Dreyzehner called the materials of concern will also contact potentially impacted patients. St. Thomas closed the clinic on Sept. 20, two days after a clinician discovered a case of fungal meningitis.

Fungal meningitis, different from bacterial and viral strains, is not contagious, said Dreyzehner. This type of meningitis is not spread from person to person, he said. About 737 patients who received the same injection at the center during that window have been alerted and examined, he added. Symptoms of fungal meningitis, which could include headaches, fever, numbness or slurring speech, have manifested themselves between seven and 28 days after treatment, he said. The earlier people are identified and treatment begins the better outcome theyre likely to have, he said. Treatments could include anti-fungals and steroids.

This type of meningitis is very rare in those with functioning immune systems, Dreyzehner said. A team of experts is working to determine the best way to treat the surviving patients. Dreyzehner said epidural steroid injections are a common, safe way to alleviate lower-back pain. The infected patients ranged in age between their 40s and 80s. This is a very, very unusual event, Dreyzehner said. This is not a complication that would be expected in the normal course of things.

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waltky · Oct 5, 2012

How could this happen??...

In a Drug Linked to a Deadly Meningitis Outbreak, a Question of Oversight
October 4, 2012 - The nations growing outbreak of meningitis, linked to spinal injections for back pain, was a calamity waiting to happen the result of a lightly regulated type of drug production that had a troubled past colliding with a popular treatment used by millions of Americans a year.

The outbreak, with 5 people dead and 30 ill in six states, is thought to have been caused by a steroid drug contaminated by a fungus. The steroid solution was not made by a major drug company, but was concocted by a pharmacy in Framingham, Mass., called the New England Compounding Center. Compounding pharmacies make their own drug products, which are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. On Monday, federal inspectors at the New England center found a sealed vial of the steroid afloat with so much foreign matter that it could be seen with the naked eye, Food and Drug Administration officials said Thursday. Under the microscope, the particles were a fungus.

The drug has been recalled, the clinics that used it are scrambling to warn patients who might have been exposed and health officials are urging anyone feeling ill after a spinal steroid injection to contact a doctor quickly, especially for symptoms like severe headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, loss of balance or slurred speech. They are also urging doctors and hospitals to stop using any products made by the New England Compounding Center. The pharmacy had shipped 17,676 vials of this potentially contaminated solution to 75 clinics in 23 states, according to Massachusetts and federal health officials.

The question is, Why? Why would pain clinics around the country rely on a pharmacy that mixes its own brand of unapproved drugs, especially for a delicate procedure like an epidural injection that has the potential realized in these awful cases to infect a patients nervous system? There seems to be no one answer. Some doctors say compounding pharmacies offer specialty products or dosages not easily found elsewhere, or sometimes simply better prices than big drug companies. But other physicians have reservations about using compounded pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Arthur S. Watanabe, an interventional pain specialist in Spokane, Wash., said the steroid for spinal injection was available from mainstream drug companies, and he could not understand why anyone would buy it from a compounding pharmacy. Compounding has been called an ancient art, something practiced long before medicines were premixed and sealed in bubble packs. The practice goes on today, allowed by states and the federal government, but it is supposed to provide custom-made products for individual patients with special needs. It is frequently done in hospital pharmacies, and an estimated 2 to 3 percent of prescriptions in the United States are compounded prescriptions for individual patients, according to the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists.

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waltky · Oct 5, 2012

Tainted steroid compound to blame...

US Steroid-Related Meningitis Cases Rise to 47
October 05, 2012 - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says the number of confirmed cases of a rare outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to steroid shots rose on Friday from 34 to 47. The number of confirmed deaths remained at five.

The new tally sent a chill through the U.S. medical community as investigators scrambled to notify hundreds, and possibly thousands, of patients across the country that steroid injections administered to the spinal cord for back pain may have been contaminated with a fungus. Investigators say patients in seven states receiving injections of the drug (methyl-prednisolone acetate) between July and September are believed to be most at risk. Medical detectives have narrowed their search for the source of the contamination to a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts. The suspect fungus was found this week in at least one sealed vial of the steroid solution at the company's manufacturing facility. More than 17,000 vials were immediately recalled.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and the spinal cord. Dr. John Jernigan, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control, says the initial symptoms of fungal meningitis in patients can vary. "The symptoms that they are experiencing are those that we sometimes see in cases of meningitis, such as fever, new or worsening headache, sometimes neck stiffness. We've also seen in a few patients, signs and symptoms of stroke, sudden onset of slurred speech, dizziness, difficulty walking, sudden weakness, etc," said Jernigan, Compounding pharmacies often custom-mix medications into doses and forms that may not be commercially available.

Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventative Medicine at the Vanderbilt Medical Center, tells VOA the meningitis outbreak shows compounding pharmacies need better regulations. "The Food and Drug Administration seems not to have oversight, regulatory oversight, over these compounding pharmacies. That's got to be changed. There is no reason that in the 21st century patients in the United States should be receiving questionable medications," said Schaffner.

He also warned there could be additional cases of fungal meningitis because of its incubation period. Health officials say so far, the majority of the deaths and illnesses linked to the outbreak have occurred in the state of Tennessee.

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waltky · Oct 6, 2012

Steroid spine shots are usually safe - just not from this particular Mass. company...

Docs say spine shots for steroids are usually safe
5 Oct.`12 Millions of people get steroid shots in their backs to relieve pain. Now they are probably wondering if it's safe.

In 23 states, hundreds, possibly thousands, of back-pain patients are being warned to watch for symptoms of meningitis because of a custom-mixed steroid solution that may have been contaminated with fungus. Five people have died and more than 40 others have fallen ill.

Doctors who do these injections say they are extremely safe when done correctly with sterile drugs. And many doctors stick to medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration instead of relying on generally less-regulated "compounding pharmacies" like the Massachusetts company implicated in the outbreak. "If I was a patient, I would definitely be concerned," said Dr. Michael Schafer, an orthopedic specialist at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

He said Northwestern gets steroids from federally regulated pharmaceutical companies. And in almost 40 years of experience, he has never had a patient develop an infection from these shots. He and others say patients should ask their doctors if their medications come from compounding pharmacies, which custom-mix and repackage creams, solutions and other drugs. In fact, some doctors who rely on such places are rethinking that.

Dr. Michael Drass of Allegheny Pain Management, a clinic in Altoona, Pa., said he has pulled all drugs that came from the New England Compounding Center off his shelves as the government has urged physicians to do and is re-evaluating whether to rely on compounding pharmacies for the medicines he uses to treat patients. "I've been doing this for 15 years now, and I've done 50,000 injections over that course of time, and I've never seen or heard anything like this. It's a real eye-opener for us in the medical practitioner community," Drass said.

More http://news.yahoo.com/docs-spine-shots-steroids-usually-safe-211950240.html
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waltky · Oct 8, 2012

Meningitis Outbreak Spreads; 91 Infected...

Deadly meningitis outbreak increases to 91 cases
Oct 7, 2012 - Michigan and Virginia report new cases

U.S. health officials on Sunday reported an additional 27 cases in a fungal meningitis outbreak linked to steroid injections that has killed seven people and now infected 91 in nine states. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the new total of 91 cases in an update on its website, up from 64 on Saturday. Most of the new cases were reported in Michigan, where the total increased to 20 from eight. Virginia's total increased to 18 from 11.

The widening outbreak has alarmed U.S. health officials and focused attention on regulations of pharmaceutical compounding companies like the one that produced the drugs, the New England Compounding Center Inc in Framingham, Massachusetts. The company shipped 17,676 vials of the steroid methylprednisolone acetate to 76 facilities in 23 states from July through September, the Massachusetts Health Department said.

The steroid is used as a painkiller, usually for the back, and could have been injected in thousands of patients, authorities have said. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, and affected patients started showing a variety of symptoms from one to four weeks after their injections. The company, which was previously the subject of complaints, has suspended its operations while an investigation proceeds and earlier recalled the three lots of the drug. It expanded its recall on Saturday to all products compounded and distributed at its Framingham facility.

According to an announcement on its website, the company issued the broader recall out of "an abundance of caution" because of the "potential risk of contamination." A compounding pharmacy takes medications from pharmaceuticals manufacturers and makes them into specific dosages and strengths for use by doctors. Complaints against the company in 2002 and 2003 about the processing of medication resulted in an agreement with government agencies in 2006 to correct deficiencies, the Massachusetts Health Department said.

LIMITED FDA AUTHORITY
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waltky · Oct 10, 2012

Granny says we all gonna die...

Meningitis outbreak toll: 137 cases, 12 deaths
Wed, Oct 10, 2012

An outbreak of fungal meningitis has been linked to steroid shots for back pain. The medication, made by a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts, has been recalled.

Latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Illnesses: 137

Deaths: 12

States: 10; Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.
___

Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/outbreaks/meningitis.html

Source
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waltky · Oct 19, 2012

Fungus found in tainted steroid shots matches the one behind the national meningitis outbreak...

FDA: Fungus in tainted steroids and patients match
18 Oct.`12 The fungus found in tainted steroid shots matches the one behind the national meningitis outbreak that has killed 20 people, federal health officials said Thursday.

The match confirms the link between the outbreak and the maker of the steroids, New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass. Officials previously said they found fungus in more than 50 unopened vials from the company, but needed more tests to determine the kind of fungus. The specialty pharmacy has been at the center of a federal and state investigation into more than 250 fungal meningitis cases. The death toll rose Thursday to 20. The victims in the outbreak had all received steroid shots made by the pharmacy, mostly to treat back pain. The company last month recalled three lots of the steroid made since May. It later shut down operations and recalled all the medicines it makes.

The fungus was confirmed in one steroid batch made in August, according to the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The FDA and CDC said Thursday that tests were continuing on the other two lots. The initial recall involved about 17,700 single-dose vials of the steroid sent to clinics in 23 states. As many as 14,000 people got shots from the three lots. The company released a statement Thursday afternoon that said, in part; "We are eager to review these findings as part of our continued cooperation with the CDC and FDA to identify the cause of this contamination."

The fungus in the vials Exserohilum rostratum (pronounced ex-sir-oh-HIGH-lum ross-TRAH-tum) is the same as that found in at least 40 people sickened with fungal meningitis, said the CDC's Mary Brandt, whose lab did the testing. "We were able to link the organism in these vials to the organism in the patients," she said. The FDA-CDC announcement did not say how many tested vials had that kind of fungus. Exserohilum is common in dirt and grasses, but it rarely causes illness and has never before been identified as a cause of meningitis, CDC officials have said.

Meningitis is caused by the inflammation of protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Tainted spinal injections would directly put germs into that part of the body. Also on Thursday, the CDC said New York has reported a fungal illness, making it the 16th state with outbreak cases. The others are Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Officials say 254 of the cases are meningitis related to shots for back pain. Three others are infections in the joints, including the New York case. The new death reported was in Michigan, bringing its total to four.

http://news.yahoo.com/fda-fungus-tainted-steroids-patients-match-185023348.html
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Richard Powell · Jan 9, 2013

Frankly speaking I am not a person who belongs to science background. The set of information which is presented with the medium of this post is no doubt informative but I am not familier with these medical terms so I request you to explain these terms in common English common terms

waltky · Mar 10, 2013

Granny says, "Dat's right - get up off yer butts an' run around the block...

Study Links Long-term Sitting to Chronic Disease
March 08, 2013 : The more you sit each day, the greater your risk of developing a chronic disease, according to a new study.

Researchers from Australia and the United States say prolonged sitting increases the likelihood of developing potentially deadly diseases and conditions such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. For some of these conditions...we saw this kind of stair step increase that, at the high levels of sitting you saw higher odds of having the disease, certainly that was true for diabetes," says Richard Rosenkranz from Kansas State University. "And then we saw increased risk at higher levels for high blood pressure as well as for any chronic disease.

A recently published study has linked prolonged sitting time with the likelihood of developing chronic diseases.

The World Health Organization blames sedentary lifestyles for approximately two million deaths each year and considers physical inactivity to be one of the 10 leading causes of death and disability worldwide. The study also revealed that exercising every morning for 30 minutes doesn't alleviate the risk if a person spends the next eight hours sitting at a desk. Were trying to say that, not only do we need to continue to tell these messages about getting in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity like walking or cycling or some exercise at the gym," Rosenkranz says, "we also need to be thinking about finding ways not to sit so much during the day.

Many of todays job opportunities have shifted from requiring physical effort to mostly involving sitting and working at a desk all day. However, office work isnt the only type of occupation that requires prolonged sitting. The researchers also singled out truck drivers who are forced to sit for long periods of time. Rosencranz has developed a plan to alleviate his own personal risk. "I have a sit/stand workstation where in two seconds I can go from sitting to standing," he says. "I just move all of my monitors, slide it up on this thing and I can stand and work for a while and break up the periods of sitting.

While he's found a personal solution, Rosenkranz believes health problems brought on by physical inactivity need to be addressed on a much broader scale. Were going to have to realize as a society that having a lot of people sitting around all the time is a health risk and its going to cost us money, its going to cost us quality of life and were going to have to do something about that," he says. "And so there will be, I believe, social norm changes, cultural changes where its OK in a meeting to get up and stand up or stand in the back of the room, take a break from just sitting on our duffs [posteriors] all the time.

http://www.voanews.com/content/study-sitting-chronic-disease/1617832.html
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waltky · Jun 2, 2013

Cheap cervical cancer test cut death rates by one-third in India...

Vinegar cancer test saves lives, India study finds
Jun 2,`13 -- A simple vinegar test slashed cervical cancer death rates by one-third in a remarkable study of 150,000 women in the slums of India, where the disease is the top cancer killer of women.

Doctors reported the results Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago. Experts called the outcome "amazing" and said this quick, cheap test could save tens of thousands of lives each year in developing countries by spotting early signs of cancer, allowing treatment before it's too late. Usha Devi, one of the women in the study, says it saved her life. "Many women refused to get screened. Some of them died of cancer later," Devi said. "Now I feel everyone should get tested. I got my life back because of these tests." Pap smears and tests for HPV, a virus that causes most cervical cancers, have slashed cases and deaths in the United States. But poor countries can't afford those screening tools.

This study tried a test that costs very little and can be done by local people with just two weeks of training and no fancy lab equipment. They swab the cervix with diluted vinegar, which can make abnormal cells briefly change color. This low-tech visual exam cut the cervical cancer death rate by 31 percent, the study found. It could prevent 22,000 deaths in India and 72,600 worldwide each year, researchers estimate. "That's amazing. That's remarkable. It's a very exciting result," said Dr. Ted Trimble of the National Cancer Institute in the U.S., the main sponsor of the study.

The story of research participant Usha Devi is not an unusual one. Despite having given birth to four children, she had never had a gynecological exam. She had been bleeding heavily for several years, hoping patience and prayers would fix things. "Everyone said it would go away, and every time I thought about going to the doctor there was either no money or something else would come up," she said, sitting in a tiny room that serves as bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living room for her entire family.

One day she found a card from health workers trying to convince women to join the study. Devi is in her late 40s and like many poor Indians doesn't know her date of birth. She learned she had advanced cervical cancer. The study paid for surgery to remove her uterus and cervix. The research effort was led by Dr. Surendra Shastri of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. India has nearly one-third of the world's cases of cervical cancer - more than 140,000 each year. "It's just not possible to provide Pap smear screening in developing countries. We don't have that kind of money" or the staff or equipment, so a simpler method had to be found, Shastri said.

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waltky · Oct 31, 2015

Prob'ly a blood or hormone disorder...

NIH to Study Mysterious Chronic Fatigue Disorder
October 30, 2015: The U.S. National Institutes of Health has announced a study of chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS, a mysterious condition that can leave sufferers exhausted and bed-ridden.

NIH officials say they want to find a cause and treatment for CFS. For now, doctors remain baffled because there is no test to confirm a diagnosis of the disorder. Exhaustion, a hallmark of CFS, can be a symptom of many conditions. And people with CFS often have other health problems. However, the head of NIH, Francis Collins, says with all of the genetic tools now available, researchers should be able to identify the cause, which could help lead to an effective treatment.

Women are diagnosed with chronic fatigue four times more often than men. Bed rest doesnt help alleviate the symptoms, which can include weakness, headache, sore joints, swollen lymph nodes and impaired cognitive function.

In 2009, researchers announced that CFS appears to have a genetic basis. At that time, experts predicted it would take a while to identify the biological pathways involved. An estimated one million Americans suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, costing thousands of dollars a year in lost work and productivity.

http://www.voanews.com/content/nih-to-study-mysterious-chronic-fatigue-disorder/3030108.html
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waltky · Jan 17, 2016

Granny does her exercises early inna mornin' fer her rheumatizm...

Exercise as medicine can help treat chronic diseases if done properly
Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016 - Imagine your doctor wrote a prescription for your elevated blood pressure and then sent you to an exercise facility to fill it. What if a few of your old pills magically transformed into a treadmill (with you on it) and your side effects flipped from low energy and fatigue to a feeling of vitality and vigour?

Numerous studies support the notion that medication and exercise can be beneficial tools for chronic-disease management, but, unlike pharmaceutical therapy, the concept of exercise as medicine is seldom applied with enough detail. For example, when a doctor prescribes a drug to a patient, there is a specific dose, volume, method of administration, frequency and duration to the treatment that ensures optimal benefit while mitigating risk. When it comes to exercise prescription, the same is seldom true. Its time to change this.

Regular exercise can help patients manage chronic conditions such as Type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.

A better world can exist where generic advice such as be more active is replaced by specific exercise recommendations that include the same detail afforded to medication guidelines. Evidence-based research is the link that can connect the good intentions of your doctor with the expertise of an experienced exercise professional. The supporting science is already here, and new national programs such as Exercise is Medicine Canada (EIMC) are trying hard to bridge the gap between physicians and medical-exercise specialists.

Check out three examples below of how the right details can raise the bar on your wellness. Supervised medical exercise can be used as a complimentary tool to reduce the incidence and severity of many serious chronic diseases especially when it follows a specific protocol that is evidence-based. (Always consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program. The examples below are for information purposes only.)

Primary issue: Management of Type 2 diabetes

Specific exercise recommendations: For people with Type 2 diabetes, The American Diabetes Association recommends at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity at 50 per cent to 70 per cent of maximum heart rate, and/or at least 90 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic exercise at 70 per cent of maximum heart rate. The physical activity should be distributed over at least three days a week and with no more than two consecutive days without physical activity. Resistance training should be performed three days a week, target all muscle groups and build up to three sets of eight to 10 repetitions.

Overall benefit from exercise: Improved glycemic control, weight maintenance and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

Primary issue: Management of osteoporosis
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