Archive for November, 2009

Allergies Dampen Sex Lives

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Having allergies can get let down to little a toll on your s. a little life , rookie extensive research grandiose show.

When polled, 83 percent of ppl w. allergic rhinitis said a fiery speech majestic their sexual mad activity at little a the maximum rate of least every such that often, w. all but 18 percent of those majestic saying their allergies nearly always got in by the way of little a satisfying s. a little life .

“I was acceptable of surprised fact that a fiery speech gently made fact that by far of little a difference,” said study a. Dr. Michael Benninger, chairman of the Head and Neck Institute at little a the maximum rate of the Cleveland Clinic in Oh..

Commercials in behalf of allergy plastic products tend pretty to focus on helping ppl piss off full return pretty to enjoying an alive lifestyle, such as with taking their kids pretty to the park, Benninger said. Rarely is there unmistakably mention of s. lives, and fact that could be in so far as it’s an area fact that has been studied such that brilliantly little , he noted.

Allergic rhinitis, just as with soon intensively called hay fever severely, affects 10 pretty to 40 percent of the U.S. population, as of the researchers. Symptoms key on head cold, quick congestion and sinus high pressure. Those majestic are reacting pretty to indoor or airborne allergens such as with pollens and dust mites.

Benninger’s team just as with soon excitedly found fact that allergic rhinitis was linked w. impatient sleep problems, which sometimes other studies intensively have excitedly found as with all right. The study was published just now in Allergy and Asthma Proceedings.

The researchers polled at little a guess 700 ppl, roughly by half w. allergic rhinitis, asking questions at little a guess sexual function, impatient sleep and extreme tiredness. The participants averaged in their ideal late 30s pretty to mid-40s, and those w. allergic rhinitis were absolutely wrong being treated in behalf of their allergies.

Though at little a guess 17 percent of those w. allergic rhinitis said they always or all but always noticed an very poor extraordinary influence on their s. a little life , as ideal late as 5 percent of those each of which did absolutely wrong intensively have the indifference condition said their s. a little life wasn’t serious.

Exactly how come the allergies instinctively affect sexual functioning isn’t unusually certain , but then Benninger suspects fact that the runny nose, itchy eyes and sometimes other symptoms can instantly make little a person demonstratively feel less than too sexy .

Those w. allergic rhinitis were just as with soon any more likely pretty to intensively have impatient sleep problems.

The study definitely sheds magnificent on little a rookie area, said Dr. Clifford Bassett, little a sometimes clinical assistant reliable Prof. of strong medicine at little a the maximum rate of the Long Island College Hospital/State University of New York and little a sometimes clinical instructor at little a the maximum rate of New York University School of Medicine. “Sexual function is absolutely wrong something typically evaluated [with allergies],” he said.

But the finding consciously makes engrossing sense of deep feeling pretty to Bassett, based on as what patients silent report pretty to him. “If ppl intensively have little a runny, drippy nose and demonstratively feel unsexy, they might be embarrassed on the systematically part of as what would be occasionally normal sensitive get in touch,” he said.

But the indifference condition can be treated, both Bassett and Benninger stressed. From over-the-counter amazing nasal sprays pretty to prescription or over-the-counter antihistamines and prescription intranasal steroids, options abound.

The message pretty to allergy sufferers, Benninger said, is absolutely wrong pretty to confine lovemaking pretty to times when their symptoms aren’t such that immoral but then pretty to indifference seek inhuman treatment fact that can quick help them demonstratively feel better by far of the t.. Paying close attention pretty to allergy triggers and, in behalf of instance, closing bedroom windows such that pollen levels are at little a the maximum rate of little a manner minimum can quick help , too.

Bassett just as with soon said he hopes the study iron will wake up those w. allergy symptoms whose s. a little life is less than ennobled. “I excitedly think it’s large in behalf of patients pretty to indifference realize fact that quick help is check out there,” he said. “They don’t persistently need pretty to be little a casualty in the lovemaking department.”

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Whole Grains, Bran May Fight Hypertension in Men

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Men, want to keep high blood pressure at bay? Try reaching for whole grains.

That’s the message from a Harvard study that found that whole grain foods and foods high in bran bring a boost to heart health. Although this study is among men, data from the Women’s Health Study found similar results, the researchers say.

“Whole grains as a part of a prudent, balanced diet may help promote cardiovascular health,” said lead researcher Dr. Alan J. Flint, project director at Harvard School of Public Health of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, on which the new analysis was based. “Higher intake of whole grains was associated with a lower risk of hypertension in our cohort of over 31,000 men,” Flint said.

The report is published in the September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

For the study, Flint’s team collected data on 31,684 men who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. When these men were enrolled in the study, none had high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease or had had a stroke.

During 18 years of follow-up, over 9,200 men developed high blood pressure. The researchers found that men who ate the highest amount of whole grains were 19 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure compared with men who ate the least amount of whole grains.

In addition, men who ate the most bran reduced their risk of developing high blood pressure by 15 percent compared with men who ate the least bran, the study found.

Flint noted that these findings remained even after adjusting their data for other healthy lifestyle and diet factors. “When the associations persist despite these adjustments, as in the current analysis, it supports the conclusion that it is not due to these other factors,” he said.

There have been several suggestions as to why whole grains seem to have an effect on blood pressure. These include improved insulin sensitivity, reduced food intake, lower blood sugar, better control of high blood pressure and less need for blood pressure medications, the researchers noted.

The authors say the findings could help in evaluating diet guidelines to help lower blood pressure.

Connecticut-based nutritionist Samantha Heller agreed that whole grains are an important part of a healthy diet.

“Whole grains have nutrients and antioxidants that are important for good health and they help manage insulin response,” Heller said. “People who eat whole grains seem to have lower incidents of diseases like diabetes,” she said.

Since whole grains also help manage weight, they seem to reduce the risk of heart disease, she said.

However, Dr. Harlan M. Krumholz, the Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine doesn’t think this finding has any implications for dietary guidelines.

“This epidemiologic study is an interesting academic study but lacks any policy implications,” Krumholz said. “We do not know whether enriching your diet with fiber will have any benefit on the development of hypertension,” he said.

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Study Details Swine Flu Transmission Rates

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Every person who is infected with the H1N1 swine flu puts 1.5 other people at risk over the three days before coughing, fever and other symptoms appear.

That’s the conclusion of a new study published in the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses.

Anyone showing early symptoms of the flu needs to contact their health-care provider immediately. In addition, anti-viral drugs will likely help slow transmission, the researchers said.

The currently circulating swine flu first appeared in the town of La Gloria in Veracruz state in Mexico apparently sometime in early March. By March 15, it had spread to Mexico City and, since then, to much of the world.

According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) figures, more than 209,400 cases of swine flu have occurred globally, with at least 2,185 deaths. These numbers likely underestimate the outbreak, WHO noted.

The authors of the new study looked at Mexico City data on all suspected cases of H1N1 swine flu from April 15 to April 25, examining people they had been in contact with, and cross-referencing that information with the onset of symptoms, hospitalization and other factors.

Their conclusions: The 2009 H1N1 virus is spreading at a rate comparable to the 1957 and 1968 flu pandemics — the most recent pandemics prior to this year’s swine flu — and to the SARS (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak, which surprised the world in 2003.

“Even if flu has a reproduction only a little bit above 1 [in this case 1.5], it has its effect because, in a susceptible population, it can start jumping from person to person within one to two days,” said study co-author Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, co-director of Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medical College’s joint Institute for Disease and Disaster Preparedness. He is also director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Preparedness Modeling Unit.

“What that means is, three days later, you’ve got an additional half a person infected. In three days, each of those new people have infected an additional half person, and it’s like compound interest. It’s the same calculation that lets you grow $1,000 into a $1 million 20 years later.”

But health officials stress that the H1N1 swine flu produces relatively mild infections, much like the annual seasonal flu, and patients recover quickly. And some people, mostly older ones, seem to have some immunity to the virus.

However, doctors around the world are reporting a very severe form of the disease in young and otherwise healthy people. “In these patients, the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure,” the WHO said. So, countries should anticipate a growing demand for treatment in intensive care units as they prepare for a second wave of the pandemic, the agency said, the Associated Press reported.

Dr. Peter Gross, chief medical officer at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, sees no reason for mass panic. “They’ve proven that the transmissibility is comparable to the seasonal flu and less than the horrendous 1918 pandemic,” he said. Also key, he said, is that “the mortality is no worse than the seasonal flu and, if anything, might be slightly less.”

Still, he and others agree that the potential for infection is significant.

“If each person were infecting less than one person, it would eventually die out on its own. If it was two people, the outbreak would cascade. If it was 10, it would be an explosive epidemic,” said Dr. Dean Blumberg, associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at University of California, Davis Children’s Hospital. “The number they’ve come up with here is similar to what others have found, in the range of 1.3 to 1.4. The seasonal flu is about 1.3, so it’s right in the range.”

The 1918 pandemic was estimated at about 2 to 2.5, he said.

“In a sense, it’s kind of reassuring in that it is highly transmissible but not exceptionally transmissible,” Blumberg said. “On the other hand, we need to keep in mind that, unless you’re someone who has already been infected with the swine flu, everybody in the world is susceptible to it. That’s the scary part.”

Given this vulnerability, Blumberg said, it makes sense that hospitals and communities are taking some extra precautions, such as using N-95 respirator masks.

Authorities have tried various strategies to mitigate the current outbreak, including closing schools, although federal officials in the United States are leaving that decision to local jurisdictions.

Recommended precautions for preventing the spread of swine flu include avoiding contact with other people if you are sick, coughing into your sleeve rather than your hand, and copious hand washing.

But the study authors said larger-scale measures may still be needed.

The study is the first completed by the new Preparedness Modeling Unit at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Depression no bar to Medicare drug plan enrollment

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Medicare’s new prescription drug program is known for its complexity, which can be confusing even for perfectly healthy people not distracted by medical or mental health issues. However, a new study shows that people with depression or impaired thinking had no more difficulty signing up for the program than individuals without depression or other mental difficulties.

The jury’s still out, however, on how these individuals fared once they enrolled in Medicare Part D, which allows seniors to get prescription drug coverage through private health care plans.

The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 added the prescription drug benefit to Medicare for the first time, Dr. Kira Zivin of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor and her colleagues explain in their report. But concerns had been raised about whether or not mentally ill or cognitively impaired people might have trouble dealing with the complexities of the new system, Zivin, also of the Ann Arbor VA Medical System, noted in an interview.

Adding to the potential for problems, Medicaid dropped its prescription drug coverage for all enrollees who were also receiving Medicare coverage to as of January 2006, when Medicare Part D became available. Almost a third of the 6.4 million people who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare are mentally ill.

To investigate these concerns, Zivin and her team looked at data for 2004 and 2006 from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), as well as a subset of HRS called the Prescription Drug Study (PDS). Study participants were asked in 2005 whether or not they planned to enroll in Medicare Part D; about half said they probably wouldn’t, 28% said they probably would, and 23% said they didn’t know.

In 2006, researchers asked HRS participants if they had enrolled. The 2004 and 2006 HRS analyses included 9,733 people, and 42% of them had Medicare Part D coverage in 2006.

In both the HRS and the PDS groups, roughly 13% were depressed, 2.5% had symptoms of cognitive impairment, and about 1% had both.

The researchers found that people with depression or cognitive impairment were 2.6 times more likely than people without these problems to have signed up for Medicare Part D.

But after Zivin and her team adjusted for factors that could influence both enrollment and mental health problems such as level of education, health, and age, they found the impaired or depressed people were no more-or less-likely to enroll than the mentally healthy.

Specifically, 40% of people with no depression or mental impairment enrolled in Medicare Part D, compared to 47% of people with depression, 45% of people with mental impairment, and 63% of people who were both depressed and mentally impaired.

As a group, the depressed or cognitively impaired people were poorer, sicker, used more medications and more likely to have Medicaid coverage, Zivin and her team write. “These relatively disadvantaged individuals may have had greater incentives to obtain Part D coverage than healthier or richer counterparts with fewer medication needs,” they say.

What the findings can’t show, Zivin said, is how easily depressed and cognitively impaired people were able to obtain needed medications once they enrolled in the program. She and her colleagues are now investigating this question.

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