Saturday, August 27, 2005

Health Headlines - August 27

Genetic Link Found to Post-Surgical Stroke

People who have two genetic variants are at least three times more likely than others to suffer a stroke after heart surgery, Duke University researchers reported Thursday.

Their findings also strongly support earlier research that showed inflammation plays a critical role in post-operative stroke, the researchers said.

The two implicated genes are involved in the body's immune response to injury. Either genetic variant by itself appeared to have no association with an increased risk of stroke, the researchers said, unlike the combination of the two.

The pair of genetic variants -- known as polymorphisms -- appears to be present in more than one-third of the population that has heart surgery, the researchers said, making the need for further study essential.

The research was published on-line in the journal Stroke.

Journal Editor Attacked for Fetal Pain Article

The editor of the medical journal that published research this week claiming that early term fetuses don't feel pain says she has received dozens of angry emails from abortion opponents.

Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, told the Associated Press that she's gotten dozens of "horrible, vindictive" messages since the article was published Wednesday.

DeAngelis defended the article from University of California, San Francisco researchers, who studied other research and concluded that fetal perception of pain is unlikely until the third trimester, at 29 to 30 weeks.

"There's nothing wrong with this article," she told the wire service, adding that JAMA will publish critics' comments in an upcoming edition and will give the authors a chance to respond.

Since the article was published, various news organiztions have reported that one of the five authors works at an abortion clinic and another has former ties to a pro-choice advocacy group.

Abortion opponents have called the article a politically motivated attack on proposed federal legislation that would require doctors to offer fetal pain information to women seeking abortions when their fetuses are 20 weeks or older.

DeAngelis strongly denied such suggestions, the wire service said, noting that she's a staunch Roman Catholic who personally opposes abortion but supports a woman's right to choose.

WHO Worried About Bird Flu

The World Health Organization says the possibility of a bird flu pandemic that could kill millions of people is very real, and urged the world's nations to make immediate preparations to combat a widespread outbreak.

WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook said the longer the virulent HN51 strain of avian flu circulates among bird flocks in Asia and elsewhere, the greater the possibility that it will mutate into a lethal virus that's easily spread among people, according to a report by the Voice of America.

The Asian outbreaks that began two years ago have led to 57 humans deaths in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia along with the deaths of millions of birds. Recent outbreaks among birds have been reported in China and the Russian Federation.

Lee said WHO is creating a stockpile of antiviral drugs and is urging the global community to do the same. On Wednesday, the Swiss drugmaker Roche announced it was donating 30 million capsules of the antiviral medicine Oseltamivir, which is 3 million treatment courses, to the WHO's reserve.

FDA Investigating Producer of Recalled Pacemakers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it's planning to conduct a thorough inspection of the manufacturing plants of Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp., a maker of implantable pacemakers and defibrillators that have been the subject of several recent recalls, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The agency began a review of Guidant in May after the newspaper reported that the company hadn't alerted doctors for three years about an electrical problem in one of its defibrillators -- devices designed to shock an irregularly beating heart back into a normal rhythm.

Since that disclosure, the Times said, Guidant has recalled tens of thousands more defibrillators and pacemakers, both of which are surgically implanted under the skin of the chest.

In a statement, the FDA said it would conduct a "comprehensive, on-site inspection of the firm's manufacturing facilities." An agency spokeswoman declined to elaborate, the Times reported.

The newspaper said the inspection was partially expected to focus on whether data gathered about the problems with the heart devices were accurately and properly reported to the FDA. Depending on what the agency finds, its responses could range from a confirmation that the company acted properly, to civil proceedings and a criminal investigation, the Times said.

Guidant officials declined to comment on the FDA inquiry, the paper said.

Feds Closing Walter Reed Medical Center

A federal commission reviewing a sweeping restructuring of U.S. military bases has voted to close Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a century-old landmark in Washington, D.C., that has served dignitaries including American presidents and foreign leaders, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Most of the hospital's work will be relocated to the bigger, more modern National Naval Medical Center in nearby Bethesda, Md., that will be renamed for the closed facility, the wire service said.

"Kids coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, all of them in harm's way, deserve to come back to 21st-century medical care," Anthony Principi, chairman of the nine-member panel that decided to close the original Walter Reed, said in a statement.

The current hospital has about 185 beds, while the expanded Maryland facility would have 340, the AP reported. Construction and renovations will cost about $989 million, the wire service said.

U.S. Debates How to Regulate Leeches and Maggots

Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are beginning a two-day meeting Thursday to decide how to regulate the use of age-old medical remedies including leeches and maggots, The New York Times reported.

Once considered tools of bygone medicine, blood-sucking leeches and flesh-eating maggots have undergone a "quiet renaissance," the newspaper said. Leeches are particularly adept at draining excess blood from reattached or transplanted limbs, while maggots are able to clean festering wounds that fail to heal.

Up to now, neither remedy has been subject to thorough investigation by the FDA, the Times said. While American squeamishness has limited their modern use in the United States, the agency has decided that enough doctors use them that they should be treated as medical devices subject to the agency's oversight, the newspaper said.

The FDA advisers are being asked to create general guidelines about how the living medical tools are to be safely grown, transported, and sold, the Times said.

Food Fact:
Chew on this.


If you visit the candy machine, sticking with gum may help you control calories. At 5 - 10 calories a sugar-free stick, it's a good alternative to hard candy, which is loaded with sugar and can contain up to 50 calories per little piece. And how many of us ever stop at one? One more bonus: Getting your jaw moving to chew burns about 12 extra calories per hour!

Fitness Tip of the day:
Exercise? It's in the bag.


Road trips won't stop you from exercising -- if you know what to pack. Find a little room in your suitcase for exercise tubes, a great compact tool for weight training and resistance exercises when away from home or your gym. If you travel a lot, ask a fitness pro to design an on-the-go exercise program.

FAQ of the day:
Does garlic lower blood cholesterol?


Studies differ over garlic's effect on blood cholesterol. While earlier studies were optimistic, more recent ones have not shown that garlic powder supplements effectively lower blood cholesterol. Few studies have looked at fresh garlic, either raw or cooked. Whether or not garlic lowers cholesterol, it has other benefits, such as inhibition of blood clots, that earn it a place in a heart-friendly diet.

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