Health Headlines - February 12

More Emergency Surgery for Ariel Sharon

Doctors operated once again on 77-year-old Israel prime minister Ariel Sharon early Saturday, after they discovered damage to his digestive system. A portion of his large intestine was removed, and Sharon's condition was said to be stable after the operation.

The New York Times reports that Sharon remained in a coma, a condition he has been in since he suffered a massive stroke Jan. 4.

Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem where the operation was performed, said at a news conference that surgeons removed about 20 inches from Sharon's large intestine, the Times reported.

Early reports had indicated Sharon might have been slipping toward death, but Mor-Yosef is quoted as saying, "The situation is serious, it is stable, it is critical, but there is no immediate danger to the life of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon."

His two sons and close political aides had been summoned to Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein-Kerem hospital, the Times reports, after doctors performed an abdominal scan that indicated blood flow problems to his intestines. Surgery began shortly before noon, the newspaper reported.

Israel is having national elections March 28, and Sharon had formed a new political party as he sought re-election. The country is currently being governed by Ehud Olmert, the deputy prime minister and a close ally of Mr. Sharon.

One-fifth of Study Group Never Reported Chronic Pain

Another study has added to the disturbing conclusion that many people who suffer from chronic pain never report it to their doctors and may be needlessly suffering.

Mayo Clinic research involved 3,575 residents in Olmsted County, Minn. from March through June 2004. Researchers say they found that 497 (22.4 percent) of these were silent sufferers, people who had persistent pain for at least three months but didn't seek a doctor's help. Researchers said the study participants represented a cross section of the county's population. The study is published in the latest issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Medical professionals aren't certain why some people don't report chronic pain. They speculate that it could be because they have had bad experiences previously with treatment or don't have enough medical coverage. But for whatever reason, it's possible that a sizeable segment of the population suffers pain needlessly, the report concludes.

"Doctors have a responsibility to ask their patients about chronic pain," says Dr. Barbara Yawn, Olmsted Medical Center physician and an author of the study.

The study found that chronic pain sufferers who do not seek treatment tend to be younger men whose pain has less impact on their usual activities.

Italy and Greece Report Cases of Avian Flu

The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has reached Italy and Greece, the Associated Press reports, and the infected birds were all swans.

This comes on the heels of Nigeria reporting Friday that it had its first suspected cases of human avian flu. However, there is no evidence that the human cases were caused by any circumstance other than contact with birds, officials said.

Three cases of avian flu in Italy were all found in swans, the wire service reports, and all were in the south -- Puglia and Calabria in southern Italy, and in Sicily. "It's certain that the virus has reached Italy," Italian health Minister Francesco Storace is quoted as saying. He added that the government was investigating taking precautionary measures in the affected areas.

Meanwhile, Greece's agriculture minister told the A.P. that three swans in northern Greece died of the H5N1 strain.

The World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies plan to send experts to Nigeria to help the country fight the outbreak. The United States has pledged $20 million and a team of scientists.

In related news, two more bird flu deaths have been reported, one in China and another in Indonesia. And lab tests have confirmed the presence of bird flu in a new country -- Azerbaijan.

Since 2003, 88 people have been killed by bird flu, the WHO says. Almost all the deaths have been in people who had contact with infected poultry.

Anti-Lymphoma Drug Gets OK for New Use

The anti-cancer drug Rituxan has received U.S. government approval for a new use, according to an announcement from its manufacturers Friday.

The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new indication for Rituxan to treat certain types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Rituxan, in combination with the drug Bexxar, has already been shown to be effective in therapy against B-cell lymphomas.

The pharmaceutical firms Genentech and Biogen co-market the drug.

According to the companies' news release, Rituxan, combined with chemotherapy, helps improve the chances of survival for patients with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, known as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a particularly aggressive type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Without intense treatment, large B-cell lymphoma can kill a person within six months to two years.

American Stem Cell Researcher Cleared by University Panel

U.S. stem cell expert Dr. Gerald Schatten committed no scientific misconduct in his work with disgraced South Korean stem cell researcher Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, University of Pittsburgh officials said Friday.

The university's research integrity panel concluded that Schatten did fail in his responsibilities as co-author of one of Hwang's studies because Schatten "did not exercise a sufficiently critical perspective," the Associated Press reported.

The panel decided to take no action against Schatten and commended him for going public with his suspicions about Hwang's research. Schatten is still a tenured professor and active researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.

Schatten was Hwang's only American collaborator and worked with the South Korean researcher for 20 months, the AP reported.

A panel of South Korean experts concluded that Hwang faked data to support his claim that he extracted stem cells from human embryos that he'd cloned. The academic panel also said Hwang falsely claimed to have developed 11 stem cell lines tailored to individual patients.

U.S. Heart Transplant Pioneer Dies

U.S. heart transplant pioneer Dr. Norman E. Shumway died Friday due to complications from cancer, the Stanford University School of Medicine said.

Shumway, who just turned 83 on Feb. 9, performed the first successful human heart transplant in the United States in 1968 at Stanford. The recipient was 54-year-old steel worker Mike Kasperak. He lived for 14 days following the transplant.

While the operation provoked an initial wave of enthusiasm for heart transplantation in the United States, a high rate of post-surgical deaths caused cardiologists to lose interest in the procedure.

However, Shumway continued to perform the operation and made steady progress, helping pave the way for a procedure that is now considered routine. Nearly 60,000 Americans have received new hearts through transplant programs at 150 medical centers.

Food Fact:
Attention, Popeye!

Here's a secret for getting the most iron from spinach. Have a glass of orange juice! Our bodies are far better able to access the iron in iron-rich plant foods -- fortified grains, legumes and dark greens -- if eaten with something acidic, such as citrus juice or tomato sauce. And even though Popeye was always carrying the spinach around, it's more likely that his sweetie Olive Oyl needed the iron more -- 75% of American women under the age of 50 are iron-deficient. If you're concerned about iron deficiency, see your doctor for a blood test, the only way to properly diagnose the condition. Adult men rarely need iron supplements.

Fitness Tip of the day:
Write it down.

Stuck in a rut? Reached a plateau? Break the logjam with an activity log! Keeping a fitness journal to track your routine will give you insight into your performance, let you measure your progress and help you set goals.

FAQ of the day:
What's the difference between an herb and a spice?

Spices are generally derived from the dried seeds, roots or bark of a plant, often a tropical one. Herbs generally come from leaves, flowers and stems.