Obesity Keeps Patients From Needed CT Scans After Surgery

(HealthDay News) -- Some obese patients who suffer complications after gastric bypass surgery are too big for CT scanners and other diagnostic imaging equipment, U.S. researchers warn.

They found that about 27 percent of patients weighing more than 450 pounds who needed imaging to diagnose a problem after surgery could not fit on the equipment.

"When patients weigh more than 450 pounds, standard diagnostic imaging often cannot be used.

In these cases, physician must resort to other means of diagnosis, such as exploratory surgery or using less accurate or more invasive techniques," Dr. Raul N. Uppot, an assistant radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and instructor of radiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a prepared statement.

He and his colleagues analyzed the cases of 44 patients weighing more than 450 pounds who had gastric bypass surgery at MGH between June 1999 and April 2007.

Of those 44 patients, 12 (27 percent) had post-surgical problems that required imaging but were denied because they were too heavy for the equipment. Some had to have surgery instead, while others had different kinds of tests.

The study was to be presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, in Chicago.

"When obese patients cannot be diagnosed using standard-of-care imaging techniques, then other diagnostic measures have to be instituted. Patient care may be ultimately affected due to a compromised diagnosis," Uppot said.

About 140,000 gastric bypass procedures were performed in the United States in 2005, according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.

"When an obese person is contemplating gastric bypass surgery, he or she should consider that they will need follow-up imaging but may not be able to get the appropriate tests," Uppot said.

More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about gastrointestinal surgery for obesity.

Saline Irrigation Eases Chronic Nasal Symptoms

(HealthDay News) -- Saline irrigation is a safe, inexpensive and effective method for treating chronic nasal and sinus symptoms, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System also concluded that saline irrigation -- the flushing of nasal passages with a salt water mixture -- is more effective than commonly used saline sprays at providing short-term relief of chronic nasal symptoms.

The study included 121 adults with chronic nasal and sinus symptoms. Sixty were treated for eight weeks with saline irrigation, and 61 were treated with saline spray.

The patients in the saline irrigation group showed greater improvement at two, four and eight weeks.

After completion of the study, 61 percent of patients in the spray group reported having symptoms "often or always," compared with 40 percent of patients in the irrigation group.

"The irrigation group achieved a clinically significant improvement in quality of life in terms of severity of their symptoms, whereas the spray group did not. Strikingly, (the irrigation group) also experienced 50 percent lower odds of frequent nasal symptoms compared with the spray group," lead author Dr. Melissa A. Pynnonen, clinical assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology, said in a prepared statement.

The study, published in the current issue of the journal Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery, received funding from NeilMed Pharmaceuticals, which makes a saline sinus rinse.

Tens of millions of Americans suffer from chronic nasal and sinus conditions. Treatments include antibiotics, antihistamines and anti-inflammatory drugs. The findings of this study suggest that doctors should recommend saline irrigation more often for patients with chronic sinus and nasal conditions, Pynnonen and her colleagues said.

More information
The University of Michigan Health System has more about sinus problems.

The Secret to Health DVD $19.95 [ learn more ] The Secret to Health reveals information that has been suppressed by the medical establishment for over 100 years! Learn from Dr. Group, how you can restore your health and take control of your body again! Running Time: 80 min

Pedometer Pushes People to Walk More

(HealthDay News) -- People who start a walking program for their health get more out of it by using a pedometer, a device that counts their steps, a new study shows.

"People who use pedometers increase their physical activity by about 2,000 steps a day, about a mile," said study author Dr. Dena M. Bravata, a senior research scientist at Stanford University. "They also seem to lower their blood pressure more and lose more weight."

The conclusion, reported in the Nov. 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, comes from an analysis of 26 studies with a total of 2,767 participants. Most were observational studies, which means the researchers simply watched what the volunteers did, while eight had some scientific controls.

Pedometer users in the controlled trials increased their physical activity by 2,491 steps per day more than those who didn't use the devices. The comparable increase for pedometer users in observational trials was 2,183 steps per day.

Pedometer users also had their systolic blood pressure -- the higher number -- fall by an average of 3.8 millimeters. A 2-mm reduction is associated with a 10 percent reduction in stroke mortality and a 7 percent reduction in death from blood vessel conditions, Bravata noted. And pedometer users also reduced their body-mass index by 0.4 percent -- about 2.5 pounds for a 195-pound individual.

One valuable input of pedometer use was that it seemed to increase motivation for more physical activity. "The more sedentary you were, the more likely this tool was to help you," Bravata said. "The effect on workplace interventions was not as great, because the people who participate in workplace programs are higher baseliners."

The study does have limitations, Bravata noted. Only 15 percent of the participants were men, and the average duration of the trials was 18 weeks.

But it's generally agreed that most Americans need more physical activity. Two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only 45 percent of Americans get enough physical activity, usually defined as at least 30 minutes a day of exercise such as walking.

One major advantage of pedometer use in an exercise program is that it caters to the American quest for numbers, said James Hill, director of the University of Colorado Center for Human Nutrition and co-founder of America on the Move, an organization dedicated to increasing physical activity.

"We published a paper in 2003 which suggested using pedometers as tools to promote physical activity," Hill said. "Until then, a pedometer was just a tool to measure activity. A pedometer puts physical activity in terms of a number. You can watch it and manage your day in terms of physical activity."

Pedometers can be simple and inexpensive or sophisticated and expensive, Hill said.
"I recommend that you invest at least $15," he said. "I'm a simple guy, and I prefer a one-button model that simply pushes you back to zero. Some models put in stride length and mileage, but the simpler kind does very well."

More information
A guide to using pedometers is offered by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Live Christmas Trees Can Trigger Mold Allergies

(HealthDay News) -- While bringing home a live Christmas tree marks the beginning of the holiday season for many, the mold that thrives on its branches can trigger weeks of suffering for some, a new study shows.

Connecticut researchers have found that the mold count from a live Christmas tree rose to five times the normal level two weeks after the tree was brought indoors, and that can prove problematic for people with mold allergies. Their research was presented this week at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology annual meeting, in Dallas.

"Christmas trees are another possible source of mold exposure during the holiday season," said study co-author Philip Hemmers, an allergist and immunologist with St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, Conn. "Mold allergies peak in the fall, and we see a second peak with a lot of our mold-sensitive patients during the holiday season. Our finding correlates with this second peak of mold sensitivity."

The researchers studied the mold growth of a live Christmas tree in a house in Connecticut. Mold reproduce by releasing spores into the air, so after the live Christmas tree was brought inside the house and decorated, the researchers measured mold spore counts. These counts were taken 12 times over a two-week period between Dec. 24 and Jan. 6. The researchers did not assess the types of mold or whether these molds triggered allergic symptoms in people living in the house.

The study found that the mold spore count was 800 spores per square meter (m3) for the first three days. Normal spore counts are less than 1,000 spores/m3, said Hemmers. However, the spore count rose after day four, reaching a maximum of 5,000 spores/m3 by day 14.

"This mold spore count is five times above normal. These high levels have been correlated with allergic rhinitis and an increased rate of asthma symptoms and asthma-related hospitalization in other studies," said Hemmers. "So if you don't feel well during the holidays, consider the Christmas tree as a possible source of allergies."

Hemmers recommended that people with mold sensitivity keep a live Christmas tree in the house for only four to seven days. An artificial tree may be a better option for people with mold allergies, he added, but they carry their own set of problems, especially if they've been stored in the attic or basement where they can collect dust and mold.

Although Christmas trees are not a problem for most people with allergies, said Dr. David Khan, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, there are things you can do to minimize their impact.

"If one is mold-allergic, running an air cleaner in the same room as the tree could theoretically reduce the mold exposure, but this has not been studied," he said. "For some people who are sensitive to odors, the aroma from the tree, which most people like, could irritate their nose and cause symptoms. For these people, avoiding live trees may be best."

Before people start avoiding live Christmas trees because of their mold growth, more research needs to be done, said Dr. Dennis Ownby, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at the Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta. Since this study only looked at a single tree in one home, more homes with trees should be investigated, as well as the types of mold found and whether those molds trigger allergies. He added that the researchers should also measure mold counts outside the home and correlate those to indoor mold counts.

Hemmers said that the outdoor mold count was likely low, since the study was done during the winter. The research team does plan to do further work this Christmas season by looking at more homes and the types of mold found.

In addition to Christmas trees, there are other potential holiday allergens, said Dr. James Sublett, section chief of Pediatric Allergy at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky. These can include foods consumed at holiday parties, such as nuts and shellfish, and Christmas ornaments and lights that have been contaminated with dust or mold.

"Store Christmas decorations in plastic containers that you can wipe off, since cardboard can potentially have mold," he advised. "Also wear a N95 dust mask when bringing stuff out of storage."

More information
For more on holiday allergies, visit the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

The Secret to Health DVD $19.95 [ learn more ] The Secret to Health reveals information that has been suppressed by the medical establishment for over 100 years! Learn from Dr. Group, how you can restore your health and take control of your body again! Running Time: 80 min

U.S. Chlamydia Infections Hit All-Time High

(HealthDay News) -- The number of Americans newly infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) continues to rise, federal health officials reported Tuesday, with one infection in particular -- chlamydia - hitting a record million-plus reported new cases annually.

Numbers from 2006 show that cases of chlamydia, as well as gonorrhea and syphilis, continued to increase in the United States for the second year in a row, according to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The 1,030,911 new cases in 2006 for chlamydia, which can cause pelvic inflammatory disease in women as well as infertility, mark "an all-time high" for the disease in the United States, said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., director of the Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention at the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.

The CDC now estimates that there are 19 million new cases of STDs diagnosed in the United States each year. Almost half of these occur among people 15 to 24 years of age, and they cost the health care system an estimated at $14.7 billion annually.

"STDs pose a serious and ongoing threat to millions of Americans," said Douglas during a teleconference on Tuesday.

"Young women, racial and ethnic populations, and men who have sex with men are particularly hard-hit by these diseases," Douglas said. "STDs can have serious health consequences, particularly if they are undiagnosed and left untreated"

In women, chlamydia and gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. Syphilis can cause neuralgic damage and fatal infections in babies, Douglas added. In addition, all three of these diseases increase the risk for transmitting and developing HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, he said.

"This is a hidden epidemic that most people are not aware of -- how many STDs are out there -- the risk that they run and the need for getting regular testing and treatment and having their partners treated," Dr. Stuart Berman, chief of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch in the Division of STD Prevention at CDC, said during the teleconference.

"We'd like to see these rates going down," Berman added. "That they are not going down says there should be greater awareness by the public and maybe a little more attention paid both by the public and their providers."

The data are included in the new CDC report: Trends in Reportable Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States, 2006.

Chlamydia is the most common reportable infectious disease in the United States, according to the report, with more than a million cases reported in 2006. In 2006, the national rate of reported chlamydia was 347.8 cases per 100,000 people. That's an increase of 5.6 percent from 2005, officials said.

Young women 15 to 19 had the highest chlamydia rate, Douglas said. "The CDC recommends that all women under 26 be screened for chlamydia annually," he added.

The increase appears to be due to more screening and the use of more sensitive tests. But the CDC doesn't rule out an actual increase in infections, Douglas noted.

Gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported infectious disease in the United States, with 358,366 cases reported in 2006, the report found. The rate for gonorrhea in 2006 was 120.9 cases per 100,000 people -- that's a 5.5 increase since 2005, and the second year in which a bump in new cases was seen, he said.

The highest rates of gonorrhea were observed in the South, Douglas said, but they also increased in the West. In addition, gonorrhea is becoming resistant to some antibiotics, he said. For that reason, the CDC no longer recommends drugs called fluoroquinolones for treating the disease, he said.

The increase in cases of gonorrhea is disheartening, because it comes after a 74 percent drop in reported cases between 1975 and 1997, the CDC noted.

Both gonorrhea and chlamydia are underreported and underdiagnosed, the experts said. "Approximately twice as many new infections are estimated to occur each year as are reported," according to the CDC.

Since reaching a record low in 2000, the rate of new syphilis cases has been on the rise. From 2005 to 2006, the rate of syphilis increased 13.8 percent, to 3.3 cases per 100,000 people. In 2006, there were 9,756 cases of syphilis reported, up from 8,724 in 2006, Douglas said.

The increase in the number of cases between 2005 and 2006 was largely driven by men who have sex with men, according to the CDC. "In 2006, 64 percent of cases were among men who have sex with men," Douglas said.

In addition, the rate of syphilis increased among women from 0.9 to 1.0 per 100,000. There was also a small increase in cases of syphilis transmitted from mothers to newborns, from 8.3 per 100,000 in 2005 to 8.5 per 100,000 in 2006, the CDC reported.

The racial disparity in who is most affected by STDs continues. Black Americans are more than eight times more likely to have chlamydia. In fact, 46 percent of all new cases are among blacks, Douglas said.

"The racial disparities in the diagnosis of gonorrhea are stark," Douglas said. Blacks are 18 times more likely to get gonorrhea compared with whites. The rate of gonorrhea increased 8.3 percent from 2005 to 2006, and blacks account for 69 percent of all new cases.

The rates of syphilis are also higher among blacks, who were six times more likely than whites to develop the disease. Between 2005 and 2006, the rate of syphilis among blacks increased 16.5 percent. The biggest increase was seen among black men, the CDC noted.

In 2006, the rate of syphilis among black women was 16 times higher than among white women. In 2006, 43.2 case of syphilis occurred among black Americans and 34.8 percent were among whites, Douglas noted.

One expert believes sex education programs, along with condom use, could go a long way to reducing the country's STD incidence.

"Most people will be stunned to learn that STDs affect nearly 20 million Americans each year," said Dr. David Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. "This is an entirely preventable plague," he added.

Consistent use of condoms would prevent almost all cases of STDs, along with HIV and unintended pregnancies, Katz added.

And sex education programs do not promote sexual activity, Katz added.
"They do prevent disease," he said.

More information
To see the full report, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Boosts Heart Disease Threat

(HealthDay News) -- People diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis run a greater risk of developing heart disease.

But that risk can be spotted and hopefully modified by using the same criteria used to identify heart-disease risk in the general population, a new study suggests.

Those screening checks include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, older age, and family history of cardiovascular illness. And people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should be screened using those risk factors as soon as possible following their diagnosis of RA, the study authors said.

"The bottom-line is that RA patients are at increased risk of heart disease," said lead researcher Dr. Hilal Maradit Kremers, a research associate with the Mayo Clinic Department of Health Sciences Research in Rochester, Minn.

"But we need to know how can we predict which RA patients are at a higher risk than others, so that we can then put more effort in the prevention of heart disease in these people," she added. "And so, here we attempted to do just that, by using a typical cardiovascular risk profile to predict heart disease among these patients."

Kremers and her colleagues presented their findings this week at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting, in Boston.

The study findings follow a 2005 Mayo Clinic report that suggested that the increase in heart disease risk among RA patients may be due to the systemic inflammation brought on by the disease, which, in turn, prompts arterial plaque to form blood clots. The new findings also come on the heels of a Mayo Clinic study released last month that said RA patients are more than twice as likely to develop heart failure over a 15-year period than people who don't have the disease.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic and often disabling disease with no known cause or cure that affects just over 2 million Americans. It's characterized by inflammation of the lining of the joints and, over time, can lead to joint damage, severe pain, and immobility.

Treatments -- such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, analgesics and physical therapy -- focus primarily on controlling pain and limiting inflammation and joint destruction.

For the new study, Kremers and her colleagues set out to predict the onset of heart disease over the course of a 10-year period among more than 1,100 people, approximately half of whom had just been diagnosed with RA. The patients were 57 years old, on average, and nearly three-quarters were women.

The patients were evaluated on standard indicators for heart disease risk, as detailed by the American Heart Association. The indicators included: gender; having a family history of heart disease; having diabetes; and/or being black. Patients were also examined for other risk factors, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Risky lifestyle habits -- including smoking, lack of exercise, and being overweight -- were also considered, the researchers said.

Based on the risk-assessment scores, the researchers assigned the patients to one of five different risk categories for heart disease -- ranging from very low to very high risk. Then the patients were tracked for an average of 12 to 14 years, during which time all incidences of heart attack, heart failure, heart surgeries, and cardiovascular-related deaths were noted.

The researchers found that while 85 percent of the RA patients between the ages of 50 and 59 had an intermediate or high risk for developing heart disease within 10 years of diagnosis, just 27 percent of comparable non-RA patients did. Among patients between the ages of 60 and 69 at the start of the study, 100 percent of the RA patients had an intermediate or high risk for heart disease, compared with 79 percent of non-RA patients.

When looking at just "high risk" among the 60 to 69 age group, the difference was even more dramatic: 85 percent for RA patients, compared to just 40 percent for non-RA patients.

The researchers concluded that more than half of RA patients 50 to 59, and all RA patients over the age of 60, had a 10 percent or greater risk of developing heart disease within 10 years of an RA diagnosis.

In light of the findings, the Mayo researchers are encouraging doctors to conduct heart-disease assessment screenings similar to the ones used in the study for each of their RA patients. These screenings should be done as soon as possible following an RA diagnosis and prevention strategies put into place, the researchers said.

"By simply doing the things that we already know, such as measuring blood pressure, blood sugars, and cholesterol -- all the standard things that we look at for the general population -- we can help identify the risk for a major cardiovascular event among the RA population," Kremers said.

Dr. Hayes Wilson, chief of rheumatology at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, said he endorsed the Mayo researchers' work.

"Anything that helps us characterize and categorize risk factors helps us in the treatment of the disease," he said. "And, until we can figure out what the smoking gun is, hopefully this advice will help us prevent cardiovascular disease or related diseases by helping RA patients better appreciate the risks they face."

More information
To learn more about rheumatoid arthritis, visit the Arthritis Foundation.

more discussion: Forum
· Addiction Forum · Ask the Doctors Forum · Ayurveda Forum · Ayurvedic & Thai Herbs Forum · Colon Cleansing Forum · Dental Forum · Diabetes Forum · Diet Forum · General Cleansing Forum · Hepatitis A, B. C Forum · Integrated Medicine Forum · Live Blood Analysis Forum · Ozone-Oxygen-Forum · pH - Alkaline - Acidity Forum · Weight Loss Forum

Health Tip: Foods That Cause Gas

(HealthDay News) - Some of the yummiest foods tend to produce gas as they make their way through the digestive tract.

Here are some potential offenders, courtesy of the National Digestive Diseases Clearinghouse:

• Several types of sugars, such as those found in milk, cheese, ice cream and other dairy products, fruits, some vegetables, and sodas.
• Starchy foods, such as pasta, potatoes, corn and wheat.
• Fiber-rich foods, including whole grains, fruits, beans and peas.
• Cabbage, broccoli, onions, artichokes and asparagus.
• Some processed foods -- especially those that contain lactose -- such as bread, salad dressings and cereals.

Stress Robs Skin of Antimicrobial Defenses

(Health Day News) -- A team of researchers has identified the biological mechanism by which stress increases susceptibility to skin infections.

"We have shown what stress does, the basis of the stress," said study author Dr. Peter Elias, a professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, and the VA Medical Center, San Francisco. Interestingly, it has nothing to do with the classic explanation of the immune system breaking down, he added.

Rather, it's a breakdown in the skin's antimicrobial defense, according to the study in the November issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Elias and his team subjected mice to psychological stress and found them more susceptible to group A Streptococcus pyogenes skin infections than mice kept under less stressful conditions.
The stressed-out mice showed a decrease in the expression of antimicrobial peptides by the skin's epidermis.

Streptococcal bacteria can cause many problems, such as skin infections, severe sore throats and even flesh-eating disease. The role of the peptides that Elias and his team studied have come to light in recent years, and it has been found that they are the "front line" of the immune system. They act like antibiotics, attacking bacteria and killing them.

In the study, Elias' team also found that the stress led to the increased production of glucocorticoids. This, in turn, inhibited the synthesis of fat in the skin's epidermis and reduced the secretion of vesicles containing antimicrobial peptides, setting up the mice for skin problems.
"What happens is, stress down-regulates the expression of two key families of antimicrobial peptides," Elias said. As that happened, skin infections became more severe in the animals.
When Elias' team blocked the production of the glucocorticoids, the skin's antimicrobial defenses returned to normal.

While many people think of the immune system's T-cells, which attack invaders, as the first line of defense, recent research suggests otherwise, Elias said. ""The antimicrobial defense mechanisms are so effective, they deal with 99.5 percent of all challenges by microbial pathogens, such as bad viruses, bad bacteria," he said.

In an accompanying commentary, Dr. Andrzej Slominski, of the University of Tennessee, wrote that "this study provides what I believe to be the first mechanistic link between psychological stress and increased susceptibility to microbial infection."

The research may eventually lead to new treatment options, such as topical medications that block excess glucocorticoid production.

More information
To learn more about skin conditions, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.