Healthsifter by mary desmond pinkowish, since 2003

Heart Attack in Your Past? Eat Your Way to a Healthier Future

Here's an interesting piece in today's Wall Street Journal describing what scientists have learned recently about how what you eat may reduce your risk of a repeat heart attack. Here's a hint: Hope you like fish! Check it out.

Good Questions About Colonoscopy--From A Patient

You should get to know HealthNewsReview.org--Gary Schwitzer peels away the layers on health and medical "news" like few others. He recently picked up this list of questions about colonoscopy that appeared on an NPR web site in Boston. Food for thought.

A Big Drop in Heart Attacks and Sudden Death...

Wow. An article in JAMA suggests that implementation of smoke-free workplace laws in one county in Minnesota led to significant reductions in heart attacks and sudden death that couldn't be explained by other factors, according to the authors. You can read about it here. The investigators feel stronly enough about their findings that they recommend that no one with coronary artery disease be exposed to second smoke.

West Nile Information

2012 has been a crazy year for West Nile encephalitis. What do you want to know about it? Start here, with an FAQ published today in the online edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Click here ot check it out.

Why People Vomit - Mental Floss

We don’t mean the triggers — though that could be a fun post — but the actual physical process. What is it about our physiology that occasionally makes our tummy say, “Come on up, Chuck”?

via www.mentalfloss.com

Just because I thought you might find it interesting. Really.

Organic Food?

This was probably the most controversial science story last week, and with good reason considering the amount of money--and hope--people invest in organic food. So far, data showing an actualy health benefit. Most surprising, many organic foods are not completely free of pesticides. Click here to read a good summary at e! Science News.

Organic produce still tastes better to me. What do you think?

Matt Ridley on 'An Epidemic of Absence' | Mind & Matter - WSJ.com

Your great-grandparents faced infectious diseases that hardly threaten you today: tuberculosis, polio, cholera, malaria, yellow fever, measles, mumps, rubella, smallpox, typhoid, typhus, tapeworm, hookworm…. But there's also a long list of modern illnesses that your great-grandparents barely knew: asthma, eczema, hay fever, food allergies, Crohn's disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis. The coincidence of the rise in these "inflammation" diseases, characterized by an overactive immune system, with the decline of infection is almost certainly not a coincidence.

via online.wsj.com

Fascinating emerging science that may explain apparent increases in diseases ranging from autism to Crohn's disease.

TB: Scary News from India

The WSJ tells the story of a possible TB apocalypse through the travails of one woman living with tuberculosis that is resistant to all known medications. She's still alive, apparently surviving while taking two experimental drugs. Frightening.

Click here to read the entire article.

Brain's Drain: Neuroscientists Discover Cranial Cleansing System: Scientific American

The brain can be a messy place. Thankfully, it has good plumbing: Scientists have just discovered a cleansing river inside the brain, a fluid stream that might be enlisted to flush away the buildup of proteins associated with Alzheimer's, Huntington's and other neurodegenerative disorders.

via www.scientificamerican.com

Interesting...now how do we capitalize on this?

Beware the Nocebo Effect - NYTimes.com

EVERYONE knows that a placebo — a fake medication or sham procedure, typically used as a control in a medical trial — can nonetheless have a positive effect, relieving real symptoms like pain, bloating or a depressed mood. The placebo effect is a result of the patient’s expectation that the treatment will help.

via www.nytimes.com

This is a fascinating article--when knowing too much can hurt you.

Memory improves for older adults using computerized brain fitness program

How We Create False Memories: Assessing Memory Performance in Older Adults (Nov. 7, 2011) — A new study addresses the influence of age-related stereotypes on memory performance and memory errors in older ...  > read more

via www.sciencedaily.com

We all want to believe this is true. One thing is probably true, though--this won't hurt you!

Grin and bear it: Smiling facilitates stress recovery

ScienceDaily (July 30, 2012) — Just grin and bear it! At some point, we have all probably heard or thought something like this when facing a tough situation. But is there any truth to this piece of advice? Feeling good usually makes us smile, but does it work the other way around? Can smiling actually make us feel better?

via www.sciencedaily.com

Migraine Mutiny?

Interesting....thank, Mental Floss, for writing about how studies of the descendants of survivors of the "Bounty" mutiny are providing clues about the genetics of migrain.

Childhood Vaccines: More Fact, Less Fantasy

It's good to see Naomi Shaeffer Riley put a spotlight on the continuing problem of under-informed parents who decide to under-vaccinate their kids. It's bad enough that these well-intentioned folks are relying on bad science and ignoring their own docs when making vaccine decisions for their own kids. As Ms. Riley explains, their decision to not vaccinate their own kids endangers our kids, too. Click here to read about the concept of "herd immunity" and why it truly takes a village to protect infants and kids from diseases like whooping cough, measles, and other childhood infections.

Do you have a "bad feeling" about giving your kids vaccines? Imagine how bad you'd feel if this were your baby girl:

 

In Gene Sequencing Treatment for Leukemia, Glimpses of the Future - NYTimes.com

So one day last July, Dr. Timothy Ley, associate director of the university’s genome institute, summoned his team. Why not throw everything we have at seeing if we can find a rogue gene spurring Dr. Wartman’s cancer, adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia, he asked? “It’s now or never,” he recalled telling them. “We will only get one shot.”

via www.nytimes.com

Fascinating.

Fat-Free Salad Dressings: Skip Them

I've heard this before: Using a fat-free salad dressing can be self-defeating, because fats help you take advantage of the nutrients in your salad vegetables. Click here to read about this recent study. Hint: Use dressings with monounsaturated fats to get most benefit from your salad with the least fat consumption.

Maintain Your Muscles!

Well-toned muscles should be a hallmark of healthy aging. Here's more data linking strong muscles to healthy bones in men and women from a long-term study conducted at the Mayo Clinic.

Lucky Lopez

How lucky is Yasser Lopez, the teen who has survived the incredible--having his brain impaled by a fishing spear? In this article from Medical Daily, one of his surgeons makes a great point, one worth remembering: If the EMTs had tried to remove the thing at the scene, they might have killed him. It took the surgical team 3 hours to complete the removal. Good luck, Yasser!
Photo: Jackson Memorial Hospital

Colour changing contact lenses could replace painful skin prick tests for diabetics | Mail Online

By Claire Bates

via www.dailymail.co.uk

From the "What Will They Think of Next?" department!

Is Physical Exercise a "Treatment" for Cancer?

This is interesting stuff, so have a look at this free editorial and the article (access, $32) in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Here's an excerpt from the editorial by Edward Giovannucci, MD.

Given the promise of a role of physical activity in reducing cancer-specific mortality, future research involving observational studies, interventions, and mechanistic studies should be a high priority. Few other leads have shown as much promise as physical activity in extending the lives of cancer survivors. Many treatments may increase survival, but at a cost of quality of life; physical activity may not only extend life but may also enhance its quality. Even though direct effects of physical activity on cancer are not definitively proven, given that physical activity is generally safe, improves quality of life for cancer patients, and has numerous other health benefits, adequate physical activity should be a standard part of cancer care.

Dirty Men

None of this is very surprising...

Bionic Brains and Beyond - WSJ.com

The National Spelling Bee of 2023 started out like any other, but controversy enveloped the contest when Suzy Hamilton, an 8-year-old from Tulsa, emerged as the new champion. Contestants had been getting younger for years; that was nothing new. But midway through the event it was discovered that Suzy was—in the words of one commentator—"amped." At the age of 4, suffering from seizures and severe attention and behavioral problems, Suzy had received an experimental new treatment: a neural implant that prevented her seizures and helped her to focus. As it turned out, the device also appeared to make her a prodigy at memorization, as her parents and teachers soon discovered.

via online.wsj.com

Did you read this?

New Cancer Drugs Use Body's Own Defenses - WSJ.com

CHICAGO—Medical science efforts to harness the power of the immune system against cancer are beginning to bear fruit after decades of frustration, opening up a hopeful new front in the long battle against the disease.

via online.wsj.com

This is an incredibly intriguing, breaking story.

Personal note: My "Bread-is-Death" diet is working. Minus 8 lb!

(Smaller) Hits to the Head: Do They Hurt Athletes?

Maybe your kid has never had a concussion, but you still wonder about the cumulative effect of less serious head bumps. This is for you: A summary of a study just published in the journal Neurology that tried to assess the effects of repeated mild hits to the head--not concussions--that young athletes often experience during games.

'Personality genes' may help account for longevity

ScienceDaily (May 24, 2012) — "It's in their genes" is a common refrain from scientists when asked about factors that allow centenarians to reach age 100 and beyond. Up until now, research has focused on genetic variations that offer a physiological advantage such as high levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol. But researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University have found that personality traits like being outgoing, optimistic, easygoing, and enjoying laughter as well as staying engaged in activities may also be part of the longevity genes mix.

via www.sciencedaily.com

Chronic Stress and Phosphorylated Tau: suggestions for Alzheimer’s | The Scicurious Brain, Scientific American Blog Network

Could stress play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s? Right now we’re not sure, but this latest study shows that it may play a role, though exactly how? Well, we’re still not sure.

via blogs.scientificamerican.com

One Drug to Shrink All Tumors - ScienceNOW

A single drug can shrink or cure human breast, ovary, colon, bladder, brain, liver, and prostate tumors that have been transplanted into mice, researchers have found. The treatment, an antibody that blocks a "do not eat" signal normally displayed on tumor cells, coaxes the immune system to destroy the cancer cells.

via news.sciencemag.org

Right now it's just fascinating, but...

Finding Clues in the Fearful Brain - NYTimes.com

A few weeks ago I wrote in this series about the difference between fear and anxiety. In simple terms, I described fear as a response to an immediately present stimulus and anxiety as a worry or rumination about something that has yet to occur, or may never occur. These are normal, adaptive processes that have evolved in the brain because they help animals, including humans, survive and thrive.

via opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

Fear vs. anxiety? How does anxiety live in your brain? What can you do about it? This is great stuff from the New York Times blog "Opinionator."
Thank you Dr. Ledoux.

What You Lose When You Sign That Organ-Donor Card - WSJ.com

The last time I renewed my driver's license, the clerk at the DMV asked if she should check me off as an organ donor. I said no. She looked at me and asked again. I said, "No. Just check the box that says, 'I am a heartless, selfish bastard.'"

via online.wsj.com

Wow. This eye-opening article (not trying to make a joke about this...) really inspired lots of comments at the Wall Street Journal site over the weekend.
Fascinating.

Why Phobias?

Patricia Pearson, author of “A Brief History of Anxiety … Yours and Mine,” has a fascinating blog post at the New York Times about the origins of phobias. Here's an excerpt:

Oddly, this act of transmuting anxiety into fear does possess a kind of logic. Anxiety has been described as fear in search of a cause, and there’s little question that fear is more actionable. Instead of being paralyzed by a sense of directionless menace, as would be the case with a generalized anxiety disorder where danger is everywhere and nowhere, the phobic can pour all dread into one vessel, and then swiftly run away.

In other words, phobia can be a form of compartmentalization.

But, she adds, about one third of phobias are inexplicable, like her own discomfort around honeycombs. Read the whole piece.

Placebo and Antidepressants

Did you catch this fascinating report on antidepressants and placebo last week on 60 Minutes?

 

Colonoscopy: Did You Get the Whole Story?

You've probably noticed the heavy news coverage of studies published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine about colon cancer screening. If this topic interests you  (it should--colon cancer is a leading killer), please also read this commentary by Gary Schwitzer at HealthNewsReview.org. Mr. Schwitzer makes it his business to monitor how health and medical news is presented to the public and to compare how well different news outlets do with respect to accuracy, completeness, cost, and many other parameters. You can read the complete set of criteria here.

This is not an easy read, but it is a worthwhile one. If you think that all news outlets report this material the same way, you may be surprised to learn otherwise. Kudos to Reuters Health. Mr Schwitzer singled them out as doing the best job of reporting on this complicated story, saying that it provided "the most balanced and arguably the most helpful to people at home trying to make decisions about colon cancer screening."

Are Your Clothes Killing You?

Now that I have your attention, read what Wall Street Journal health writer Melinda Beck has to say about articles of clothing that you might want to re-think, including tight belts, holsters (if you're a cop), shoulder bags, fleece boots, and flip flops. Most alarming: Could that shirt and tie combo be cutting off circulation to your brain? Read more here.

Maybe he just needs to undo his top button.

Raynaud's Phenomena Affecting the Tongue

You've probably heard of Raynaud's phenomena/syndrome/disease. People with the disorder experience intermittent episodes when arteries--usually in the fingers--clamp down, blocking blood circulation  and causing the fingers to get white, blue, and painful. Sometimes Raynaud's exists by itself, but it can also be a symptom of a connective tissue or autoimmune disorder like rheumatoid arthritis. This week, The New England Journal of Medicine reports on a woman with Raynaud's who started having similar symptoms in her tongue. She took a photo during an attack to show her doctor. You can see it here or read the brief article. She had previously been diagnosed with mixed connective-tissue disease, a type of autoimmune disease.

Although Raynaud's usually occurs in the fingers, it can actually occur in the arteries of any organ. I had a reason to remember this today, and it's ironic that this story appeared in this issue. RIP MVA.

Why is Adele's "Someone Like You" So Popular? A Psychologist Explains

If you're one of the 3 people on the planet who hasn't heard Adele's "Someone Like You," you're excused from reading this post. Everyone else, listen up: It's all about appoggiatura. Michaeleen Doucleff explains in the Wall Street Journal:

An appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound. "This generates tension in the listener," said Martin Guhn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who co-wrote a 2007 study on the subject. "When the notes return to the anticipated melody, the tension resolves, and it feels good."

Chills often descend on listeners at these moments of resolution. When several appoggiaturas occur next to each other in a melody, it generates a cycle of tension and release. This provokes an even stronger reaction, and that is when the tears start to flow.

Chill-provoking passages, they found, shared at least four features. They began softly and then suddenly became loud. They included an abrupt entrance of a new "voice," either a new instrument or harmony. And they often involved an expansion of the frequencies played. In one passage from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 (K. 488), for instance, the violins jump up one octave to echo the melody. Finally, all the passages contained unexpected deviations in the melody or the harmony. Music is most likely to tingle the spine, in short, when it includes surprises in volume, timbre and harmonic pattern.

Ms. Doucleff goes on to explain that other scientists have found that emotionally wrought music, even sad music, boosts dopamine output in our brains--which makes us crave it.

I'm getting dopamined.

Superbowl Eating: I'm Dumping the Dips

No, I don't think anyone will die or even get super-sick from eating dips during Superbowl parties on Sunday. But after watching this video on how double-dipping affects the bacterial content of dips, I'm finding the whole idea kind of unappetizing. Bleech. But wings are good! So are the little hot dogs wrapped in pastry. (Thank you to Christina Tsuei at WSJ.com.) You can read more here.

 

What's With Those "Tourette's" Girls in Upstate NY?

Vulnerable

Ruth Graham does a good job at Slate with a recap of the situation in upstate New York, where 14 high school girls and one boy are suffering with a condition that may bear a bit of resemblance to Tourette's syndrome--that neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics (many of which take a rather florid form). Erin Brockovich thinks a toxin is to blame, and there was a big chemical spill nearby their school in 1970. But nearly all of the affected are female, and as more medical professionals review the facts, it seems like the likeliest diagnosis is probably conversion disorder, aka mass hysteria. Salem Witch Trials, the 1962 laughing epidemic at a girls's school in Tanzania, the 1965 fainting event at a girls' school in England--yup, that mass hysteria. Caitlin Flanagan offered some insight into why girls may be susceptible to this disorder a few days ago in the New York Times.

Why Are We So Fat?

Is it the calories, or is it the carbs?

Tara Parker-Pope recently wrote about her weight struggles in the New York Times magazine and concluded based on her interviews--and personal experience--that once a person gains weight, the body prefers its cushiony state and resists our most valiant attempts to cut calories and increase energy expenditures.

Writing in his book, "Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It," Gary Taubes explains why obesity may be an endocrine disorder caused at least in part by our increased consumption of refined grains and sugars ("carbs"). White bread and sugar rev up our insulin levels. High levels of this hormone are linked to  both heart disease and diabetes, says Taubes, and also to increased body fat. Taube explains today in The Daily Beast:

In the past decade, clinical trials have repeatedly demonstrated that when obese and overweight individuals consciously restrict the carbohydrates they eat, but not calories, they not only tend to lose significant weight, but their heart disease and diabetes risk factors improve significantly as well. Their insulin resistance, in effect, resolves. (An observation that itself suggests that it’s the quantity and quality of carbohydrates we consume that are the fundamental cause of metabolic syndrome.)

Another well-accepted effect of carbohydrate-restriction is that intrusive and obsessive thoughts of food seem to disappear on these diets. People lose weight, but they’re not hungry doing so. In fact, the American Medical Association has described the absence of hunger (technically “anorexia”) as a side effect of diets that severely restrict carbohydrate content but otherwise allow dieters to eat as many calories (from fat and protein) as they want.

And there's more: Diabetes seems to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting that insulin has some role there, too. In fact, insulin treatment is being investigated as a possible treatment for early Alzheimer's. Here's what MayoClinic.com says:

The link between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's may be especially strong as a result of the complex ways that type 2 diabetes affects the ability of the brain and other body tissues to use sugar (glucose) and respond to insulin.

That bagel looks amazing, but maybe I'll just take the lox.

Paula Deen Diabetes Rumors Say The TV Star Will Soon Reveal Diagnosis, Drug Endorsement

The Daily is reporting that Paula Deen, the large-living queen of heavy cooking, is about to come clean with what some say has long been her dirtiest secret: her diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Sad, but not too surprised. But really? She's owning up to the diagnosis (did anyone actually ask her to?) because she's about to sign a big-$ deal with a diabetes drug manufacturer?

Snooki, Gwyneth Paltrow on Charity's List of Fake Science Claims | NewsFeed | TIME.com

Thanks to technological advancement, a.k.a. the Internet, there are myriad reliable sources from which you can draw scientific and medical facts. Unsurprisingly, celebrity interviews aren’t among them.

via newsfeed.time.com

Well said!

A Brain Injury Doctor Talks About Boston--And It's Not Good

Ford Vox, MD, works in and around Boston treating people with traumatic brain injuries, and his blog post over at The Atlantic is a stunner. Noting that The Daily Beast just named Boston the booziest city in America, he describes some of his injured patients. He estimates that alcohol is tied to about 75% of the brain injury cases he sees that are serious enough to land people in brain-rehab hospital. He makes a point of saying that many of these people showed no signs of alcohol-related problems until they had the booze-related accident, fall, or bar fight that changed their lives. So he says:

"So when I see some media outfit has named Boston America's Drunkest City, I think that sounds right. I see the aftermath every day."

Chilling. But is it worse in Boston/New England than elsewhere?

 

Singing Therapy Helps Stroke Patients Speak Again : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

Debra Meyerson was hiking near Lake Tahoe 15 months ago when a stroke destroyed part of the left side of her brain, leaving her literally speechless. It happens to more than 150,000 Americans a year.

via www.npr.org

Facebook Faces Up to Suicide

It's been reported that Facebook is adding a feature that will allow a person's Facebook buddies to report that person's possible suicidal behavior. That will trigger an email to the person from Facebook, urging him/her to call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline and/or to click a link for an online chat with a counselor. Read more here.  Intrusive? Yes. Better than doing nothing? Absolutely.

Four Daily Cups of Coffee May Cut Cancer Risk in Women - NYTimes.com

Endometrial cancer is the most common uterine cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are about 46,000 new cases and 8,000 deaths yearly from the disease.

via www.nytimes.com

If coffee were a new medication, imagine what a blockbuster it would be.

Premature Babies, Neonatal Research, and Difficult Choices : The New Yorker

The entryway to the neonatal intensive-care unit in my hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, is lined with photographs of children who were born prematurely. Jeremiah, delivered at twenty-four weeks, sixteen weeks early, weighed one pound six ounces. In the picture, he’s a robust teen-ager, seated at a piano. Nearby is a photo of Caroline, a blond ten-year-old in a blue uniform, holding a lacrosse stick. She was born at twenty-five weeks, when her mother’s placenta abruptly tore apart. Caroline has cerebral palsy, and wears an ankle-and-foot brace on her right leg, but she “is able to dance, swim, ride a two-wheel bike, play lacrosse,” and “is very social,” according to the caption below the photo. Across the hall is a photograph of Jackie, who’s on a swing. Her mother’s placenta became infected at twenty-four weeks, and she was delivered “blue,” with collapsed lungs. Jackie was not expected to live through the first twenty-four hours. She’s now eight years old, with a lingering lung problem, but her mother describes her as “a very beautiful girl with lots of energy. Her favorite food is everything.” A few steps away, there is a drawing of a tree with leaves made of paper. On each leaf is the name of an infant who did not survive.

via www.newyorker.com

Jerome Groopman gives us a view inside a neonatal intensive care unit and families and babies who pass through. The physicians and nurses who dedicate their lives here are extraordinary. And there's so much they can't know.

Are You Going to Continue Taking Vitamins?

Never a huge believer in vitamins, I'll admit to a calcium/D supplement, a tablet containing smorgasbord of B, and an occasional multivitamin. But now I'm wondering about that even those few. As Shirley Wang wrote in the Wall Street Journal this week, the evidence of a benefit just ain't there in huge trials. And there's some hint of risks associated with some vitamins taken in tablet form. If you take vitamins, I urge you to read her update on the latest findings--you may be suprised at what you read.

• Earlier this month, it was reported that vitamin E might actually increase the risk of prostate cancer slighly. Or maybe if it's taken with selenium, it's ok. This is not a ringing endorsement.
• Elderly people who take multivitamins may have a slightly higher risk of death than similar folks who don't. Or mayble this uptick was caused by women who take iron even though they don't usually need it after menopause. Again, who knows?
• Vitamin studies are notoriously hard to conduct and interpret. What does it mean if you start taking a vitamin at age 40? Can you override any nutritional problems caused by years of eating too few fruits and vegetables?
• What we do know: Women of childbearng age should take folate. They should also consider taking iron.
• What we do know, part 2: Eat lots of plants. Keep your weight down. Exercise.

Here's food for thought from Ms Wang's article:

Roberta Anding, a nutritionist at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, says some people need multivitamins and other supplements, but she is cautious about the risk from high doses of micronutrients. "It's no longer nutrition when the doses become high, it's pharmacology," she says.

Read this article--even if you have to pay for access.

The genetics of happiness: Transporter of delight | The Economist

THE idea that the human personality is a blank slate, to be written upon only by experience, prevailed for most of the second half of the 20th century. Over the past two decades, however, that notion has been undermined. Studies comparing identical with non-identical twins have helped to establish the heritability of many aspects of behaviour, and examination of DNA has uncovered some of the genes responsible. Recent work on both these fronts suggests that happiness is highly heritable.

via www.economist.com

It's an intriguing story on the "genetics" of happiness.

Not Wanting To Get Better | Ask the Therapist

A. It would be wrong not to reveal this information to your therapist and to your doctor. It is important that they are fully aware of what you are thinking and feeling. They can’t help you if they are unaware of your concerns. In fact, revealing such information could lead to psychological growth, which is the goal of therapy. Giving in to your fears might strengthen the depression. You want to avoid that.

via psychcentral.com

This is an interesting question from a patient who is "comfortable" with depression.

How your brain reacts to mistakes depends on your mindset | e! Science News

"Whether you think you can or think you can't -- you're right," said Henry Ford.

via esciencenews.com

"Whether you think you can or think you can't -- you're right," said Henry Ford.