Doctor HealthHealth Tips

A study of 84,285 women seeking care in Dutch family physician offices between 1985 and 2003 revealed that breast symptoms were reported in about 3 percent of all visits.

Of the women complaining of breast symptoms, 3 percent of those women were subsequently diagnosed with breast cancer. Notably, those patients reporting a breast mass had a markedly elevated likelihood of breast cancer (15.04 likelihood ratio), suggesting that clinicians should aggressively work up such complaints regardless of patient age.
BY : Angela Sharma

Opting for less damaging treatments, staying active and learning about the warning signs of lymphedema: that’s how women with breast cancer can avoid developing chronic lymphedema, according to the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG).
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It appears that stroke patients who receive both intravenous thrombolysis - a minimally invasive treatment that dissolves abnormal blood clots - and endovascular interventions - such as drugs and implanting medical devices - are much more likely to recover and have lower chances of dying, according to new research by the Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Research Center at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Read the rest of this entry »

In a global world, significant factors affect the spread of infectious diseases, including international trade, air travel and globalized food production. “Airport malaria” is a term coined by researchers to explain the more recent spread of malaria to areas such as the United States and Europe, which some scientists credit to warmer climate changes.
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Exercise Tip for Parents No. 8: Be a Role Model

Whether they admit it or not, kids look to their parents as role models.

“What you do has a huge effect on what they do,” says Chipko, who works with youth from 9 to 18.

If you’re a couch potato, you may pass that trait on to your children. On the other hand, if kids grow up in a family where they walk the dog, hike, or go for bike rides, they will emulate that behavior, says Keller.

“When trying to teach kids discipline,” says Chipko, “you as a parent should have some as well.”

Women who have had two or more induced abortions have a reduced risk of pre-eclampsia by 60 %. It is not currently understood to what degree physical activity during pregnancy protects against pre-eclampsia, compared to previous studies. This is shown in two new studies from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) that use data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). The new results from MoBa were presented on Friday 7th November at 21st Norwegian Perinatal Days, a conference organised jointly with the 2008 International Stillbirth Conference. The NIPH chaired the conference and many researchers from the NIPH presented research about stillbirth and findings from the MoBa.
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DiaGenic ASA (OSL: DIAG) and Applied Biosystems Inc. (NYSE: ABI) today announced the launch of BCtect(TM), a blood-based test for early detection of breast cancer. The test searches for a unique gene expression signature identified by DiaGenic using a custom TaqMan(R) Array manufactured for DiaGenic by Applied Biosystems. India was chosen as the first country for the introduction of BCtect(TM) after successful completion of a large study in the country.

The DiaGenic BCtect(TM) test addresses a significant medical need in India, where breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women. The lack of a coordinated national screening program means that breast cancer is typically detected at a late stage, resulting in high mortality rates compared to Western countries. Last year alone, nearly 100,000 women in the country died from the disease. Breast cancer is also on the rise, with an estimated 250,000 new cases expected in India by 2015. A key problem has been the detection of only 10% of cases at an early stage, which lags far behind Western countries where detection rates reach as high as 65%.
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Calcium and vitamin D supplements may do more than strengthen bones in older women. These vital nutrients may also help younger, active women reduce their risk of stress fractures.

To illustrate that point, many bone health experts refer to a recent study of more than 5,200 female U.S. Navy recruits that found that women who didn’t take additional calcium and vitamin D were about 25 percent more likely to suffer a stress fracture than women who took the vitamin and mineral combination.

“The most common time for a stress fracture is when you’re increasing your exercise levels — when you’re going from doing nothing to doing a whole lot. It’s too much, too fast, and the bone can’t handle it,” explained Dr. Sabrina Strickland, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
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Consuming increasingly higher doses of powdered milk may help children with milk allergies overcome their condition, a new study suggests.

In the double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of milk immunotherapy, all 12 children receiving milk powder daily significantly increased their tolerance of milk after four months, from no more than 40 milligrams to at least 2,540 milligrams (2.5 ounces). Meanwhile, the seven children receiving a placebo powder showed no improvement.

The findings were published in the Oct. 28 print edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The study was conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and Duke University.

“Our findings suggest that oral immunotherapy gradually retrains the immune system to completely disregard or to better tolerate the allergens in milk that previously caused allergic reactions,” study senior investigator Dr. Robert Wood, director of Allergy and Immunology at Hopkins Children’s, said in a hospital news release. “Albeit preliminary and requiring further study, these results suggest that oral immunotherapy may be the closest thing yet to a true treatment for food allergy.”

Children regularly consuming milk powder had more milk antibodies in their blood, and were better able to tolerate milk than those on the placebo. As a result, the researchers recommended that these children continue consuming milk daily to maintain and further build their resistance.

The researchers aren’t sure what would happen if the children stopped consuming milk regularly. “It may very well be that this tolerance is lost once the immune system is no longer exposed to the allergen daily,” Wood said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently estimated that food allergies in children have risen 18 percent in the last decade, with 3 million children in the United States having at least one food allergy. Being allergic to milk is the most prevalent one.

Most food allergies are managed through simple avoidance of the trigger foods in hope that the child will outgrow the allergy.

“Given that the quality of life of a child with a food allergy is comparable to the quality of life of a child with diabetes, we urgently need therapies that go beyond strict food avoidance or waiting for the child to outgrow the allergy,” Wood said.

Wood said further research is necessary, so parents and caregivers should not try oral immunotherapy without medical supervision.
By HealthDay

Postmenopausal women who have lost interest in sex may be able to bring their libidos back to life with a testosterone patch, according to new research published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine.
However, the use of the male hormone to boost sex drive in women may not be risk-free. Out of the 814 women in the study, four women who were taking testosterone developed breast cancer, but none of the women on placebo did. It’s not clear whether this was a statistical blip or a warning sign that excess testosterone could cause or spur the growth of a malignancy. Some women also reported excess hair growth, although none stopped using the hormone for this reason.
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