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Featured InfoMedLinks

Cochrane Review Stirs Controversy Over Statins in Primary Prevention “A new Cochrane review has provoked controversy by concluding that there is not enough evidence to recommend the widespread use of statins in the primary prevention of heart disease [1].”

Eating Poorly Can Make You Blue: Trans-Fats Increase Risk of Depression, While Olive Oil Helps Avoid Risk

Heavy Drinking Doubles Risk for Essential Tremor Later in Life “The researchers report that patients who developed tremor were significantly more likely to have been drinking often and for a long period. After taking factors into account likely to influence the results, such as lifetime cigarette smoking and depression, they found that those who drank regularly more than doubled their risk for essential tremor.”

HEPA Filter May Improve Air Near Wood-Burning Stoves

High Levels of 'Good' Cholesterol May Be Associated With Lower Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

Hot Flushes Are Linked With a Significant Reduction in Breast Cancer Risk, Study Finds

Hypokalemia and sudden cardiac death. (Exp Clin Cardiol. 2010) “In cardiovascular patients, hypokalemia is often caused by nonpotassium-sparing diuretics, insufficient potassium intake and a shift of potassium into stores by increased potassium uptake stimulated by catecholamines, beta-adrenoceptor agonists and insulin. Interestingly, drugs with a proven significant positive effect on mortality and morbidity rates in heart failure patients all increase plasma potassium concentration. Thus, it may prove beneficial to pay more attention to hypokalemia and to maintain plasma potassium levels in the upper normal range. The more at risk of fatal arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death a patient is, the more attention should be given to the potassium homeostasis.”

Late-life dementia predicts mortality beyond established midlife risk factors. (Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2011)

Loud Road Noise Linked to Stroke in Older Adults

Obesity May Interfere With Vitamin D Absorption “The more obese a person is, the poorer his or her vitamin D status, a new study by a team of Norwegian researchers suggests. The study found an inverse relationship between excess pounds and an insufficient amount of vitamin D, which is critical to cell health, calcium absorption and proper immune function. Vitamin D deficiency can raise the risk for bone deterioration and certain types of cancer. The researchers also suggest that overweight and obese people may have problems processing the vitamin properly.”

Rise in Some Head and Neck Cancers Tied to Oral Sex: Study

Smoking tied to miscarriage risk

Symptoms of Learning Disabilities

Vitamin D Intakes Recommended By The IOM Adequate For Most Average Risk Seniors, However IOF Advises Higher Daily Intakes For High Risk Seniors

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Healthy Living

Adherence to a Mediterranean-type dietary pattern and cognitive decline in a community population. (Am J Clin Nutr. 2010) “The Mediterranean dietary pattern as captured by the MedDiet scoring system may reduce the rate of cognitive decline with older age.”

Eating vegetables, fruits as children linked to healthier arteries as adults “Children who consistently eat lots of fruits and vegetables lower their risk of having stiff arteries in young adulthood, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.”

Exercise May Reduce Risk of Endometrial Cancer

Healthy Lifestyle May Reduce Stroke Risk by 80%

Hepatitis A World Map

Hepatitis B World Map

Hepatitis C World Map

Just a Little Bit of Sugar “Most women should consume no more than 25 grams (about 6 teaspoons) of added sugars a day, and most men, no more than 37.5 grams (about 9 teaspoons), according to the American Heart Association. With 4 calories per gram of sugar, that’s no more than 100 calories of added sugars for women, and no more than 150 for men. It’s easy to exceed these sugar limits—and most Americans do. A 16-ounce bottle of soda has about 44 grams (11 teaspoons) of added sugar, and many people drink a lot more than that. In fact, the average American consumes about 90 grams (22 teaspoons) of added sugars a day—355 calories’ worth—mostly from sodas, but also from other sweetened beverages (including fruit drinks), desserts, candy, and breakfast cereals. Many other foods, even ketchup, have sugar added to them as well.”

List of Maps - CDC

Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplements and Cognitive Decline: Singapore Longitudinal Aging Studies. (J Nutr Health Aging. 2011) “Conclusion: Daily n-3 PUFA supplements consumption was independently associated with less cognitive decline in elderly Chinese.”

Physical activity and breast cancer: review of the epidemiologic evidence and biologic mechanisms. (Recent Results Cancer Res. 2011)

Regular exercise 'cuts disease risk' “Regular exercise cuts the risk of more than 20 illnesses, a review found on Monday. The chance of major diseases, including colon cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and stroke are all reduced with weekly exercise, according to the study published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice. "Apart from not smoking, being physically active is the most powerful lifestyle choice an individual can make for improved health outcomes," said the author, Leslie Alford from the school of physiotherapy at the University of East Anglia.”

Regular Physical Activity Significantly Reduces Depression Risk

Walking Slows the Progression of Alzheimer's Disease

Which Is More Sanitary: Hand Towels or Air Dryers? “No matter which method you choose, you won't be rid of germs unless you dry your hands thoroughly. Germs love water. It's their ideal medium for multiplying and getting around. And the recent study found that putting in the time and effort to really dry hands completely will mean way fewer germs. And get this: Drying hands vigorously with a paper towel bested rubbing them dry under a blower when it came to germ levels. Seems the skin-on-skin friction created when we rub our hands under the blower somehow releases more germs that live deep in our pores.”

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Inflammation and Oxidative Stress

Association of C-Reactive Protein With Cognitive Impairment (Arch Neurol. 2010) “Conclusions High hsCRP may be a marker of memory and visuospatial impairment in the elderly.”

Association of vitamin B-6 status with inflammation, oxidative stress, and chronic inflammatory conditions: the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (Am J Clin Nutr 2010) “Conclusions: Low vitamin B-6 concentrations are associated with inflammation, higher oxidative stress, and metabolic conditions in older Puerto Rican adults. Our data suggest that vitamin B-6 may influence cardiovascular disease risk through mechanisms other than homocysteine and support the notion that nutritional status may influence the health disparities present in this population.”

CRP is risk factor for heart disease “CRP (C-reactive protein) is a protein made by the liver which is known to be a ‘marker’ for a state of inflammation in the body. In recent years, there has been growing interest in the role CRP might play in heart disease. For instance, CRP is present in the atherosclerotic plaque that is the hallmark of heart disease. Raised CRP may indicate a state of inflammation in the coronary arteries that may set the scene for heart disease. So should doctors be measuring CRP as a risk factor, as they do cholesterol and blood pressure? A report from the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, led by doctors at the University of Cambridge, UK, suggests that we should, indeed, take CRP seriously as a risk factor in heart disease.”

C-Reactive Protein (CRP)

C-Reactive Protein and Risk of Lung Cancer (Journal of Clinical Oncology 2010) “Conclusion Elevated CRP levels are associated with subsequently increased lung cancer risk, suggesting an etiologic role for chronic pulmonary inflammation in lung carcinogenesis.“

C-Reactive Protein Concentration and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, and Mortality: An Individual Participant Meta-Analysis “Perspective: There is debate about the clinical utility of CRP for risk assessment in cardiovascular disease as well as whether it is a causal relationship or simply a biomarker of risk. This study adds to the abundant literature supporting CRP as a risk marker for cardiovascular events and mortality. And the JUPITER trial provided clinical evidence that it may be useful to risk stratify persons with relatively normal lipid profiles for deciding statin therapy. CRP binds to low-density lipoprotein, and is found in atherosclerotic plaque, suggesting causality. However, this study showing attenuation of attributable risk when corrected for fibrinogen, and recent studies showing no relationship between genetic polymorphisms associated with a higher level of CRP and cardiovascular disease imply that CRP is a risk marker, but not a risk factor for cardiovascular events. And the important saga continues. “

C-Reactive Protein Levels Vary by Race

Defending Against Disease With an Anti-Inflammation Lifestyle

Inflammation and the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes (Diabetes Care 2010)

Inflammation in Atherosclerosis: (Circ J. 2010) “Thus, accumulating experimental evidence supports a key role for inflammation as a link between risk factors for atherosclerosis and the biology that underlies the complications of this disease. The recent JUPITER trial supports the clinical utility of an assessment of inflammatory status in guiding intervention to limit cardiovascular events. Inflammation is thus moving from a theoretical concept to a tool that provides practical clinical utility in risk assessment and targeting of therapy.”

Magnesium, inflammation, and obesity in chronic disease. (Nutr Rev. 2010)

New Link Found Between Inflammation and Cancer

Persistent low-grade inflammation and regular exercise.Inflammation (Biosci (Schol Ed). 2010) “Visceral adiposity contributes to systemic inflammation and is independently associated with the occurrence of CVD, type 2 diabetes and dementia. We suggest that the anti-inflammatory effects of exercise may be mediated via a long-term effect of exercise leading to a reduction in visceral fat mass and/or by induction of anti-inflammatory cytokines with each bout of exercise.”

Poor sleep quality increases inflammation, community study finds “Individuals who reported six or fewer hours of sleep had higher levels of three inflammatory markers: fibrinogen, IL-6 and C-reactive protein. In particular, average C-reactive protein levels were about 25 percent higher (2 milligrams per liter compared to 1.6) in people who reported fewer than six hours of sleep, compared to those reporting between six and nine hours. That difference was still significant even when the data is corrected for known risk factors such as smoking, blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, Morris says. C-reactive protein is used extensively as a marker of inflammation and heart disease risk. People whose C-reactive protein levels are in the upper third of the population (above 3 milligrams per liter) have roughly double the risk of a heart attack, compared with people with lower C-reactive protein levels, according to the American Heart Association and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Researchers link inflammation to illness in overweight people “Normally, inflammation is healthy, a part of the body's fight against infections. But when it happens in response to obesity, it can contribute to numerous ills, such as fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis, says Anthony Ferrante, a medical professor at Columbia whose research focuses on obesity's affects. The inflammation appears to happen because macrophages, white blood cells that attack and eat infection, congregate in fat tissue. Why is a mystery. "Are the fat cells getting big, bursting and then the macrophages are going in to clean up the mess? Or is it that the macrophages are killing the fat cells?" asks Carey Lumeng, a pediatrician who studies obesity and inflammation at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. A few years ago, Ferrante's lab discovered that in lean people, only 5% of fat tissue is made up of macrophages, while in the severely obese it can be more than 50%. And why do they cause an immune response? One hypothesis is that higher concentrations of fat could trigger macrophages to go into inflammatory mode.”

Waist circumference is related to low-grade inflammation in youth. (Int J Pediatr Obes. 2010) “Conclusions. Low grade systemic inflammation is already present in youth with high waist circumference. CRP, HGF and PAI-1 may be related to the adverse overall metabolic risk profile observed in these children and adolescents.”

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Patient Safety

Elderly Patients Are Often Prescribed Inappropriate Medicines in the ICU “The most common potentially inappropriate medications were anticholinergic drugs, Dr. Morandi noted.“

ER Patients Put Faith in CT Scans “The study also found that 75 percent of patients underestimated the amount of radiation delivered by a CT scan, and only 3 percent understood that CT scans increase a person's lifetime risk of cancer. It's estimated that 1.5 percent to 2 percent of all cancers in the United States may be attributable to CT scan radiation.”

Germ Cops Help Hospitals Prevent Infection, Death

Hospitals hurt 18 percent of patients, study says

Insomnia medication: Do published studies reflect the complete picture of efficacy and safety? (Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2010) “In conclusion, selective publication and reporting lead to an overestimation of efficacy and underestimation of safety of insomnia products. Authors of treatment guidelines should be aware of this bias. EPARs/FDA reviews provide a more unbiased view of the benefit-risk balance of insomnia and other medications and hence these documents should be consulted by e.g. authors of meta-analyses and of treatment guidelines.”

Nearly 1 in 7 Hospitalized Medicare Patients Experience Adverse Events

Public information as a marketing tool: Promotion of diseases and medicines

Radiation beam strays, harming instead of helping “The treatment Ms. Faber received, stereotactic radiosurgery, or SRS, is one of the fastest-growing radiation therapies, a technological innovation designed to target tiny tumors and other anomalies affecting the brain or spinal cord, while minimizing damage to surrounding tissue. Because the radiation is so concentrated and intense, accuracy is especially important. Yet, according to records and interviews, the SRS unit at Evanston lacked certain safety features, including those that might have prevented radiation from leaking outside the cone.“

Study: No Improvement in Hospital Safety “Some hospitals are no safer today than they were 10 years ago, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In 1999, an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report revealed that medical errors cause as many as 98,000 deaths and more than 1 million injuries per year. Researchers have found that despite efforts to ensure patient safety in the years since the report was published, those rates have remained largely unchanged.”

The adherence of GPs to guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of lower urinary tract infections in women is poor. (Fam Pract. 2010)

Top 50 US Hospitals for Inpatient Cardiovascular Care

Top Hospitals Across United States Ranked Based on Patient Mortality

Wide Variation in Response to FDA Rosiglitazone Warning “Doctors do not respond adequately to FDA boxed warnings on drug labels, resulting in significant exposure of patients to potentially unsafe medications, according to researchers who use the rosiglitazone saga as an example.”

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