OCD Link to a Genetic Marker May Pave the Way for New Treatments

Researchers have found a genetic marker associated with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The finding could help increase the understanding of this mental disorder and aid in the development of new treatments.

It is estimated that OCD affects 1 to 2 percent of the U.S. population. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), OCD is one of the more disabling mental health conditions worldwide. Now, a group of researchers has identified a genetic marker that may be associated with the development of OCD.

OCD is one of the least understood mental disorders in terms of causes and mechanisms. Treatment for the disorder includes antidepressants, known as SSRIs, and behavioral therapy. However, these treatments are only effective for some people.

According to the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), OCD is characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce anxiety (obsessions), repetitive behaviors engaged in to reduce anxiety (compulsions), or a combination of both. OCD can have a tremendous negative impact on daily functioning.

[via - healthline.com]

Scrap 'outdated' charging for prescriptions in England, say family doctors

The ‘outdated and iniquitous’ NHS prescription charge should be scrapped, a GP has said.

England remains the only country in the UK still stumping up for the ‘tax’ on medicines.

The latest figures for 2012 show that 80 per cent of those aged 18 to 59 had to pay for their drugs.

The £8.05 charge compares starkly with the cost of many commonly prescribed drugs that are now off patent, according to Dr James Cave, editor of the journal Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.

There are a host of exemptions to the charge – including age and pregnancy – but these extend to unrelated conditions. In an editorial, Dr Cave said many exemptions appear ‘illogical’.

He added: ‘It is time that politicians showed their commitment to a patient-centred NHS and abolished prescription charges in England.’

The prescription charge has long been a contentious issue, says DTB, and even contributed to the resignation of Aneurin Bevan, the architect of the NHS, in 1951.

[via - dailymail.co.uk]

End-of-life care 'deeply concerning'

The care given to people dying in hospital is "deeply concerning", according to doctors who have carried out a review of standards in England.

The audit found only a fifth of hospitals provided specialist end-of-life care seven days a week - 10 years after this was recommended.

Communication was also particularly poor, the joint Royal College of Physicians and Marie Curie review said.

More than 500,000 people die each year in England - half of them in hospital.

The review looked at the care given to more than 6,500 people who had died last year in 149 hospitals.

Some but not all of them had been on the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway.

This covers care given during the final stages of life and can involve withdrawal of medication, food and fluids, but is being phased out following criticism about how it was being used.

More than 800 bereaved relatives were also asked for their views. Three-quarters said they felt supported during their loved-one's final two days of life.

[via - bbc.com]

Report: Tobacco fields poisoning kids

Kids can’t buy tobacco products, but in Tennessee children as young as 9 are working in tobacco fields and suffering symptoms consistent with acute nicotine poisoning, according to a report by an international human rights group.

In most cases, there is nothing illegal about the practice. State and federal child labor laws carve out exemptions for agricultural work, allowing children of any age to work on small farms. Children 12 and older can work unlimited hours outside of school at any farm with a parent’s permission. At 14, children can do farm work without a parent’s permission.

But a new report by New York-based Human Rights Watch highlights hazards facing children laboring in tobacco fields.

“I’ve gotten sick,” a 9-year-old identified in the report only as “Patrick W.” told researchers about his work at a Macon County farm. “We started cutting [tobacco plants], and I had to go home. I kept on coughing (heaving), and I had to eat crackers and drink some Gatorade. … I threw up a little bit. It took two or three hours before I felt better.”

[via - tennessean.com]

Too much exercise may be bad for the heart

Everyone knows exercise is fundamental for good cardiovascular health, but a new and surprising body of research is finding that too much exercise may also increase the risk of death from heart attack or stroke in patients with existing heart problems.

The new study, which was just published in the journal Heart, tracked a decade's worth of exercise habits and survival of more than 1,000 people with diagnosed -- but stable -- coronary artery disease. The majority of the study's participants were in their 60s and had attended a cardiac rehabilitation program to avoid future heart attacks or strokes.

Around 40 percent of the study participants did an hour of moderate-intensity aerobic activity 2 to 4 times per week; of the remaining 60 percent, half exercised at that level more than four times a week and the other half exercised less. Overall, 1 in 10 said they rarely or never exercised.

The researchers found those who were most sedentary were around twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as those who were regularly physically active. They were around four times as likely to die of cardiovascular events and all other causes.

[via - cbsnews.com]

Study: Lung cancer screening could cost Medicare billions, add $3 to monthly premiums

Every person covered by Medicare would shell out an additional $3 a month if the government agreed to pay to screen certain current and former smokers for lung cancer, a new study estimates.

It would cost Medicare $2 billion a year to follow recent advice to offer these lung scans — and fuel angst about rising health costs that are borne by everyone, not just smokers, the study found.

Joshua Roth of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle said the researchers merely were tallying the cost of screening, and were not "judging value" or saying whether Medicare should pay it. He led the study, which was released Wednesday and will be presented at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference later this month.

Lung cancer is the world's top cancer killer, mainly because it's usually found too late for treatment to do much good. Most deaths involve Medicare-age people, and most are due to smoking.

Recently, a major study found that annual CT scans, a type of X-ray, could cut the chances of dying from lung cancer by up to 20 percent in those most at risk — people ages 55 through 79 who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years or the equivalent, such as two packs a day for 15 years.

Based largely on that, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in December recommended screening that group, about 10 million Americans. The scans cost $100 to as much as $400. Under the new health care law, cancer screenings recommended by the task force are to be covered with no copays.

[via - startribune.com]

Scientists find cocaine in UK's water

In a study assessing the dangers associated pharmaceutical contaminants in Britain's water, scientists found traces of the drug cocaine still present after the water had gone through an intensive purification process.

Experts from the Drinking Water Inspectorate found traces of the compound benzoylecgonine — the metabolised by product of cocaine and the same composite searched for in common urine-based drug tests.

Speaking with the UK's Sunday Times, Steve Rolls from the drug-policy thinktank Transform said the startling results were an indication of scale of the drug's use in the Britain.

"We have the near highest level of cocaine use in western Europe," Mr Rolls told the newspaper.

"It has also been getting cheaper and cheaper at the same time as its use has been going up."

The newspaper also quoted the charity DrugScope saying that nearly 700,000 UK residents aged between 16-59 use cocaine every year.......

[via - health.msn.co.nz]

Elderly face paying £140,000 bill before reaching social care cap

ELDERLY people face spending around £140,000 on residential care before they hit the cap on social care costs, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) warned in a report released today.

The sum is almost double the £72,000 figure the cap will be set at when it comes into force in 2016 and could increase to around £250,000 if an individual is in long-term care for 10 years.

This is because the cap only covers the cost of care set at local authority prices and does not include daily living costs such as food and accommodation.

A person entering a home in London aged 85 is expected to reach the cap in around four years and pay around £117,000 whereas a person in the Midlands would face costs of around £170,000 but take seven years to hit the cap. ......

[via - cityam.com]

'Horrors Of War Take Toll On UK Troops'

The number of Afghanistan veterans seeking mental health support has risen significantly, according to new figures.

Charity Combat Stress said 358 ex-military personnel sought help for mental illness last year, compared with 228 in 2012.

The majority of those veterans were treated for post traumatic stress disorder, depression or anxiety.

The charity's chief executive, Commodore Andrew Cameron, warned that the numbers are likely to increase over the coming years.

"With demand for our services already surging, Combat Stress faces a real challenge in continuing to provide our unique life changing clinical treatment and support services to those who need it," he said.

"We are planning for services at or above the current level for at least the next five years, and we do not expect to see demand for support tail-off in the near future."

Commodore Cameron said one fifth of all veterans are likely to suffer from mental illness......

[via - news.sky.com]

Samsung chairman in 'stable condition' after heart attack

Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Kun-hee remained hospitalized in stable condition Monday after being treated for a heart attack, company officials said.

Lee, 72, was rushed to a hospital near his Seoul home late Saturday after suffering breathing problems and received CPR due to symptoms of a heart attack. He was later transferred to a Samsung-affiliated hospital in Seoul, Samsung Medical Center, where he underwent a stent placement procedure early Sunday in which tubes were inserted into his body to widen blood vessels to prevent a heart attack, according to Keich Lee, a spokeswoman at Samsung Global Communications.

The Samsung Group said in a statement Sunday that Lee "is in stable condition and making a recovery."

The Samsung spokeswoman said Monday that Lee's spontaneous breathing returned shortly after the operation and hospital officials expect good results. She said Lee remained hospitalized Monday.

Lee, the de facto chairman of Samsung Group, which is South Korea's largest conglomerate, has a history of medical problems. He has been suffering from respiratory complications since undergoing lung surgery in the late 1990s, and was hospitalized last August for treatment of pneumonia. He returned to Seoul in April after spending the winter season in the U.S. to prevent respiratory ailments.....

[via - ctvnews.ca]

NY to Consider Indoor E-Cigarette Ban

State lawmakers are looking at whether to include electronic cigarettes in New York's indoor public smoking ban.

The Senate Health Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the matter Monday.

The panel will consider whether the existing ban on public indoor smoking should be applied to e-cigarettes and review current regulations on liquid nicotine, which is used in the devices.

The committee is expected to take testimony from supporters and opponents of increased regulations....

[via - nbcnewyork.com]

More Women Waiting to Have First Child

The number of women over 35 giving birth for the first time has increased nine-fold according to data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control. Researchers examined trends over four decades starting in 1973 and ending in 2012, the most recent year with complete information.

Researchers did not look at why the change in birth rates occurred, but reason that in today’s society, more women are delaying having their first child to focus on their careers. The change in first birth rate was evident in all races and ethnic groups, who saw the most dramatic increase in older women. The number of non-Hispanic black women becoming first-time moms in the 40 to  49 age group jumped 171 percent between 1990 and 2012....

[via - techsonia.com]

Study examines why polar bears are fat yet healthy

When it comes to healthy eating, polar bears break all the rules. They eat mostly fat, but they don't get heart disease the way humans would.

Scientists said the Thursday in journal Cell that the reason lies in their genes.

Some speedy evolutionary tricks, particularly in the genes which handle how fats are metabolized and how fats are transported in the blood, have allowed polar bears to survive in the Arctic, scientists said.

And it all happened within the last 500,000 years, after the polar bear split from its cousin, the brown bear, according to research that compared the two animals' genomes.

Scientists found that polar bears are much younger than previously thought, with past estimates of the divergence time between polar and brown bears ranging from 600,000 to five million years ago.

"It's really surprising that the divergence time is so short," said Rasmus Nielsen, a University of California Berkeley professor of integrative biology and of statistics

[via - natureworldnews.com]

Soy Sauce Mistake Leads to Potential HIV Therapy

A compound that was accidentally discovered when soy sauce manufactures were crafting new flavor enhancers could potentially treat HIV more effectively than currently used drugs.

Patients currently suffering from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are most likely to be treated with AIDS-prevention medications such as the drug Tenofovir - a first-line therapy that, while initially helpful, quickly becomes very ineffective.

This reportedly occurs because the virus mutates to devlop a resitance to these drugs, forcing physicians to move their patients onto more potent medications with many adverse effects.

However, according to a study recently published in The International Journal of Pharmaceutics, researchers have discovered that new drug therapies developed using a molecule called EFdA can potentially help halt the spread of the virus without a high risk of increasing drug resistance.

Authors of the study explained in a recent press release that EFdA was discovered in 2001, when a soy sauce company was attempting to create a new flavor enhancer. When the compound was made, scientists quickly realized it was a "nucleoside analogue" - a type of compound commonly used for viral treatment.

[via - natureworldnews.com]

Irish will be fattest Europeans by 2030, says study

In all, about 90 per cent of Irish men and 84 per cent of Irish women are predicted to fall within a category that ranges from 'overweight' to 'obese' by 2030.

British researchers used a computer model to predict the percentage of men and women who will carry an unhealthy tub of excess weight across Europe in 2020 and 2030. Health experts said the 'shocking' figures showed the huge challenge that health and social care services are facing and warned of the obesity epidemic coming down the tracks.

"Our study presents a worrying picture of rising obesity across Europe. Policies to reverse this trend are urgently needed," said Dr Laura Webber, who headed up the report.

Webber is calling for a tax on sugary drinks and subsidies for fruit and vegetables.

She said that although there was no quick fix for tackling the epidemic, the Government must do more to restrict unhealthy food marketing and make healthy food more affordable.

[via - independent.ie]

'Star Wars' prosthetic arm gains FDA approval

DARPA's Revolutionizing Prosthetics program, which aimed to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a "prosthetic upper limb with near-natural control mechanisms," has been successful. DARPA says the FDA approved the DEKA Arm System shown here in less than eight years after the start of the program.

The agency says the aim of the program is to offer more choices for amputees. The split-hook prosthetic commonly used by amputees was invented in 1912. (Via DARPA, Flickr / Divine Harvester)

Using specialized sensors attached to the upper arm or the feet, the device can translate what the user aims to do — turning electrical signals in the muscles into movement. (Via  ​DARPA)

DARPA says the battery-powered arm is comparable to a natural arm in weight and size. The system is delicate enough to handle grapes and even eggs, as we showed you before.

[via - ajc.com]

Leadless Pacing Shows Promise, But Hits Snags

Longer-term results from the first-in-man study of the Nanostim leadless pacemaker showed the device continued to work as expected, but a postmarketing study in Europe has been temporarily halted following reports of perforations and deaths.

Through 1 year, measures of pacing threshold, impedance, R-wave amplitude, percentage pacing, and battery voltage remained similar to those seen in the initial 3 months of follow-up, according to Vivek Reddy, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

Also, there were no additional adverse events uncovered from 3 to 12 months in the 33 patients enrolled in the preliminary study, Reddy reported at the Heart Rhythm Society meeting here.

The results indicate that leadless right ventricular pacing is feasible, Reddy said. He acknowledged that the study was small, but said that "this raises the possibility of being able to remove the weakest link of pacemaker systems, which is of course the lead."

[via - medpagetoday.com]

Researchers Find Gene That Augments Cognitive Capabilities

A recent study has revealed that persons who have a variant of longevity gene called KLOTHO had better brain skills like judgment, knowledge and recollection, regardless of their age, sex or whether they have a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers have also noticed that when KLOTHO gene levels were increased in mice, they became smarter. The phenomenon could be explained due to the strength of connection between nerve cells in the brain.

The research is headed by Dena Dubal, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of neurology, the David A. Coulter Endowed Chair in Aging and Neuro-degeneration at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). According to Dena, it could pave way to help millions of patients around the world who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia caused by Brain degeneration. If it is possible to repair and boost the brain’s ability to function, we could be looking at a revolutionary new approach in treating dementia.

[via - thewestsidestory.net]

Stillbirth risk upped by how mom sleeps

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 30 (UPI) --Pregnant women in Ghana who slept on their backs were at heightened risk of stillbirth compared with women who did not, U.S. researchers say.

Senior author Louise O'Brien, an associate professor in University of Michigan's Sleep Disorders Center, and colleagues and said although the study was conducted in a maternity hospital in Ghana, a recent case-control study from New Zealand also found a link between maternal supine sleep -- sleeping on their backs -- and stillbirth.

Read More....

[via - UPI]

New Study Reveals Early Blood Test Might Detect Pancreatic Cancer

Japanese researchers say that early blood tests may help in detecting deadly pancreatic cancer earlier than usual and could increase the chances for survival, according to a new study.

Pancreatic cancer is normally caught in late stages and very difficult to treat, so any studies that suggest early detection of pancreatic cancer raise hopes. The researchers examined the utility of metabolomic analysis as a diagnostic method for pancreatic cancer and then validated the new approach. The study was published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

Read More....

[via - Counselheal]