The Relationship Between Asthma And Chronic Nasal Congestion

The Relationship Between Asthma And Chronic Nasal Congestion.
A redone Swedish office shows that severe asthma seems to be more common than previously believed. It also reports that those afflicted by it have a higher mastery of blocked or runny noses, a possible initials that physicians should pay more attention to nasal congestion and similar issues. In the study, researchers surveyed 30000 woman in the street from the west of Sweden and asked about their health, including whether they had physician-diagnosed asthma, took asthma medication, and if so, what lenient of symptoms they experienced.

And "This is the first patch that the prevalence of severe asthma has been estimated in a population study, documenting that approximately 2 percent of the citizens in the West Sweden is showing signs of severe asthma," study co-author Jan Lotvall, professor at Sahlgrenska Academy's Krefting Research Center, said in a newsflash release from the University of Gothenburg. "This argues that more unembroidered forms of asthma are far more common than previously believed, and that trim care professionals should pay extra attention to patients with such symptoms".

Eating The Correct Ratio Of Omega-3 DHA And EPA Can Help Alleviate Depression

Eating The Correct Ratio Of Omega-3 DHA And EPA Can Help Alleviate Depression.
Omega-3 fatty acids may ease alleviate indentation but only when a unusual type of fatty acid called DHA is used in the right ratio with another fatty acid known as EPA, a redesigned study suggests. The researchers analyzed the results of some 15 above-named controlled clinical trials on the use of omega-3s - commonly found in oily fish or in fish unguent supplements - to treat depressed people. They found that when used by itself, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) only did not seem to offer any benefit.

However, DHA combined with a rather high portion of EPA (eicosapentenoic acid) did improve depressive symptoms. "Preparations with some EPA had some consistent antidepressant effects, while preparations of unmixed DHA had no antidepressant effects," said lead study architect Dr John Davis, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "I don't of we can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt, but there is now evidence from a number of double-blind studies that suggest mixed DHA/EPA has antidepressant properties, whether by itself or given along with unwritten antidepressants".

The study, funded by the US National Institutes of Health, was designed as a meta-analysis, in which researchers merge the results of multiple prior studies. The findings were slated for donation Thursday at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology meeting in Miami.

Davis noted the next stage should be to test the anti-depressant effect of the omega-3 fatty acid combination in a large population to affirm a dose range. Prior research on the effectiveness of omega-3 fattys acids against depression has been mixed, with one new randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for example, concluding that taking 800 milligrams of DHA everyday did not help ward off depression in pregnant women.

Vaccination Protects Against Influenza

Vaccination Protects Against Influenza.
US strength officials would like every American superannuated 6 months and older to get a flu vaccine, and on Thursday they produced statistics they deliberate should convince everyone to get vaccinated. "In the 2012-2013 flu season, vaccinations prevented at least 6,6 million cases of flu-associated illness. They also prevented some 3,2 million kith and kin from whereas their doctor and 79000 hospitalizations," Dr Tom Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a c noontide press briefing. The benefits of vaccination seen in 2012-2013 were greater than the CDC had seen before and were attributable to the harshness of the season.

So "Last year was a relatively stiff season. Even with those hospitalizations prevented, there were still about 381000 flu-associated hospitalizations. This is higher than we have seen during many flu seasons". During the end flu season, there were some 31,8 million influenza-associated illnesses and 14,4 million doctors visits for flu, according a CDC communication in the Dec 13, 2013 exit of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Frieden said the best way to be protected from the flu is to be vaccinated.

Yet only 40 percent of Americans elderly 6 months and older had been vaccinated by early November. Flu across the boondocks is picking up and even greater activity is predicted in the coming weeks. Increased prevalence has been seen in the Southeast and in some states beyond that area. "We know that it will increase in the coming weeks and months, but we cannot augur where and when and how severe this year's flu season will be.

Painkillers Are One Of The Causes Of Death

Painkillers Are One Of The Causes Of Death.
Abuse of tranquillizing painkillers and other recipe drugs is a growing problem in the United States, and a leading doctors' series is urging members to exercise tighter control on the medications. The American College of Physicians (ACP) says its recommended changes will compel it tougher for prescription drugs - painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin, as well as drugs occupied for sleep problems and weight loss - to be ill-treated or diverted for sale on the street. Prescription drug abuse may now be a prime cause of accidental demise in the United States, according to a recent tally of preliminary data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One 2010 survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, found that 16 million Americans superannuated 12 and older had in use a prescription painkiller, sedative, tranquilizer or urge for purposes other than their medical care at least once in the prior year. One of the ACP's 10 recommendations highlighted the penury to educate doctors, patients and the public about the dangers of prescription drug abuse. The guidelines also suggested that doctors take to be the full range of available treatments before prescribing painkillers. Among the other recommendations.

Evidence-based, nonbinding guidelines should be developed to worker guide doctors' care decisions. A national prescription-drug-monitoring program should be created, so doctors and pharmacists can check almost identical programs in their own and neighboring states before writing and filling prescriptions for substances with high misapplication potential. Two experts said the ACP recommendations are welcome, but more must be done.

Rheumatoid Arthritis And Shingles

Rheumatoid Arthritis And Shingles.
The newest medications old to scrutinize autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis don't appear to raise the risk of developing shingles, experimental research indicates. There has been concern that these medications, called anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs, might prolong the chances of a shingles infection (also known as herpes zoster) because they create by suppressing a part of the immune system that causes the autoimmune attack. "These are commonly in use drugs for people with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, and the issue was whether or not they increased the risk of shingles.

We found there is no increased hazard when using these drugs, which was reassuring," said study author Dr Kevin Winthrop, friend professor of infectious disease and public health and preventive medicine at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Results of the contemplate are published in the March 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Shingles is a paramount concern for people with autoimmune conditions, particularly occupy who are older and more at risk for developing shingles in general. Shingles is caused when the same virus that causes chickenpox is reactivated. The symptoms of shingles, however, are often far more genuine than chickenpox. It typically starts with a ardent or tingling pain, which is followed by the appearance of fluid-filled blisters, according to the US National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Shingles soreness can vary from mild to so severe that even the lightest touch causes excessive pain. People who have rheumatoid arthritis already have an increased risk of shingles, although Winthrop said it's not specifically clear why. It may be due to older age, or it may have something to do with the disease itself. Rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions are treated with many unlike medications that help dampen the immune set and, hopefully, the autoimmune attack.

Very Loud Music Can Cause Hearing Loss In Adolescence

Very Loud Music Can Cause Hearing Loss In Adolescence.
Over the finish two decades hearing sacrifice due to "recreational" noise exposure such as blaring blackjack music has risen among adolescent girls, and now approaches levels previously seen only amid adolescent boys, a new study suggests. And teens as a whole are increasingly exposed to snazzy noises that could place their long-term auditory health in jeopardy, the researchers added. "In the '80s and dawn '90s young men experienced this kind of hearing damage in greater numbers, undoubtedly as a reflection - of what young men and young women have traditionally done for farm and fun," noted study lead author Elisabeth Henderson, an MD-candidate in Harvard Medical School's School of Public Health in Boston.

And "This means that boys have usually been faced with a greater caste of risk in the form of occupational noise exposure, fire alarms, lawn mowers, that sympathetic of thing. But now we're seeing that young women are experiencing this same level of damage, too". Henderson and her colleagues piece their findings in the Dec 27, 2010 online version of Pediatrics.

To explore the risk for hearing damage among teens, the authors analyzed the results of audiometric testing conducted centre of 4,310 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19, all of whom participated in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Comparing booming noise uncovering across two periods of time (from 1988 to 1994 and from 2005 to 2006), the line-up determined that the degree of teen hearing loss had generally remained relatively stable. But there was one exception: teen girls.

Between the two investigate periods, hearing loss due to loud disturbance exposure had gone up among adolescent girls, from 11,6 percent to 16,7 percent - a plain that had previously been observed solely among adolescent boys. When asked about their past day's activities, look at participants revealed that their overall exposure to loud noise and/or their use of headphones for music-listening had rocketed up, from just under 20 percent in the overdue 1980s and early 1990s to nearly 35 percent of adolescents in 2005-2006.

Doctors Strongly Recommend That All Pregnant Women To Have A Blood Test For HIV

Doctors Strongly Recommend That All Pregnant Women To Have A Blood Test For HIV.
A babe born two-and-a-half years ago in Mississippi with HIV is the basic casing of a so-called "functional cure" of the infection, researchers announced Sunday. Standard tests can no longer spot any traces of the AIDS-causing virus even though the child has discontinued HIV medication. "We allow this is the first well-documented case of a functional cure," said look lead author Dr Deborah Persaud, associate professor of pediatrics in the class of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore. The finding was presented Sunday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, in Atlanta.

The lass was not part of a study but, instead, the beneficiary of an unexpected and partly unplanned cycle of events that - once confirmed and replicated in a strict study - might help more children who are born with HIV or who at risk of contracting HIV from their parent eradicate the virus from their body. Normally, mothers infected with HIV take antiretroviral drugs that can almost murder the odds of the virus being transferred to the baby. If a mother doesn't be familiar with her HIV status or hasn't been treated for other reasons, the baby is given "prophylactic" drugs at birth while awaiting the results of tests to infer his or her HIV status.

This can take four to six weeks to complete. If the tests are positive, the child starts HIV drug treatment. The fuss over of the baby born in Mississippi didn't know she was HIV-positive until the time of delivery.

But in this case, both the primary and confirmatory tests on the baby were able to be completed within one day, allowing the baby to be started on HIV medicine treatment within the first 30 hours of life. "Most of our kids don't get picked up that early". As expected, the baby's "viral load" - detectable levels of HIV - decreased progressively until it was no longer detectable at 29 days of age.

Theoretically, this young gentleman (doctors aren't disclosing the gender) would have bewitched the medications for the lay of his or her life, said the researchers, who included doctors from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Instead, the toddler stayed on the regimen for only 18 months before dropping out of the medical combination and discontinuing the drugs.

Ten months after stopping treatment, however, the youth was again seen by doctors who were surprised to find no HIV virus or HIV antibodies with customary tests. Ultrasensitive tests did detect infinitesimal traces of viral DNA and RNA in the blood. But the virus was not replicating - a influentially unusual occurrence given that drugs were no longer being administered, the researchers said.

Treatment Of Heart Attack And Stroke In Certified Hospitals

Treatment Of Heart Attack And Stroke In Certified Hospitals.
Around the nation, hospitals pass on to themselves as "stroke centers of excellence" or "chest bore centers," the substance being those facilities offer top-notch care for stroke and heart attacks. But stylish programs for certifying, accrediting or recognizing hospitals as providers of the best cardiovascular or stroke care are falling short, according to an American Heart Association/American Stroke Association advisory. "Right now, it's not always sheer what is just a marketing duration and what actually truly distinguishes the quality of a center," said Dr Gregg Fonarow, an American Heart Association spokesman and professor of cardiovascular medication at the University of California, Los Angeles.

A look at of the available data found no clear relationship between having a festive designation as a heart attack or stroke care center and the care the hospitals provide or, even more important, how patients fare. To variation that, the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association are jointly developing a inclusive stroke and cardiovascular care certification program that should go through as a national standard.

The goal is to help patients, insurers and others have more reliable data about where they are most likely to receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care available. "There is a value to having a trusted origin develop a certification program that clinicians, insurers and the public can use to understand which hospitals are providing uncommon cardiovascular and stroke care, including achieving high-quality outcomes".

The program, which will take from about two years to develop and will likely be done in partnership with other major medical organizations, will cover exigency situations such as heart attack and stroke, but also heart failure management and coronary bypass surgery. The admonitory is published online Nov 12, 2010 and in the Dec 7, 2010 language issue of Circulation.

Typically, recognition and certification programs require that hospitals put certain procedures in place, but they don't praepostor how well hospitals are adhering to the practices or whether patient outcomes are improving precedent author of the advisory. And those are the better certification programs. Other self-proclaimed "centers of excellence" may unmistakably be terms dreamed up by marketing departments.

The Presence Of A Few Extra Pounds In Man Reduces The Risk Of Sudden Death

The Presence Of A Few Extra Pounds In Man Reduces The Risk Of Sudden Death.
A uncharted worldwide opinion reveals a surprising pattern: while obesity increases the risk of dying early, being slightly overweight reduces it. These studies included almost 3 million adults from around the world, yet the results were remarkably consistent, the authors of the scrutiny noted. "For populate with a medical condition, survival is slight better for people who are slightly heavier," said study author Katherine Flegal, a older research scientist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

Several factors may narrative for this finding. "Maybe heavier people present to the doctor earlier, or get screened more often. Heavier bourgeoisie may be more likely to be treated according to guidelines, or fat itself may be cardioprotective, or someone who is heavier might be more resilient and better able to summer-house a shock to their system". The report was published Jan. 2 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

For the study, Flegal's body collected data on more than 2,88 million kinsfolk included in 97 studies. These studies were done in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Brazil, Israel, India and Mexico. The researchers looked at the participants' body miscellany index, or BMI, which is a extent of body fat that takes into narration a person's height and weight. Pooling the data from all the studies, the researchers found that compared with normal substance people, overweight people had a 6 percent lower risk of death.

Obese people, however, had an 18 percent higher chance of death. For those who were the least obese, the risk of eradication was 5 percent lower than for normal weight people, but for those who were the most obese the risk of death was 29 percent higher, the findings revealed. While the workroom found an association between weight and premature expiration risk, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

Study Of Helmets With Face Shields

Study Of Helmets With Face Shields.
Adding expression shields to soldiers' helmets could truncate brain damage resulting from explosions, which account for more than half of all combat-related injuries unremitting by US troops, a new study suggests. Using computer models to simulate battlefield blasts and their chattels on brain tissue, researchers learned that the face is the strongest pathway through which an explosion's pressure waves reach the brain. According to the US Department of Defense, about 130000 US repair members deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq have sustained blast-induced injurious brain injury (TBI) from explosions.

The addition of a face shield made with transparent armor statistics to the advanced combat helmets (ACH) worn by most troops significantly impeded direct curse waves to the face, mitigating brain injury, said lead researcher Raul Radovitzky, an confidant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). "We tried to assess the physics of the problem, but also the biological and clinical responses, and bind it all together," said Radovitzky, who is also associate chief honcho of MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. "The key thing from our point of view is that we gnome the problem in the news and thought maybe we could make a contribution".

Researching the issue, Radovitzky created computer models by collaborating with David Moore, a neurologist at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC Moore old MRI scans to simulate features of the brain, and the two scientists compared how the brains would reply to a frontal destroy wave in three scenarios: a head with no helmet, a head wearing the ACH, and a prime minister wearing the ACH plus a face shield. The sophisticated computer models were able to fuse the force of blast waves with skull features such as the sinuses, cerebrospinal fluid, and the layers of gray and whey-faced matter in the brain. Results revealed that without the face shield, the ACH slightly delayed the burst wave's arrival but did not significantly lessen its effect on brain tissue. Adding a face shield, however, considerably reduced forces on the brain.