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Healthwise 87 June 2007
Healthwise is a regular column written especially for laterlife.com members and visitors by Helen Franks, journalist and author. Welcome to healthwise 87. For previous articles in the healthwise series visit 'more healthwise'
A new study reporting to have found a link between domestic pesticide use and the skin cancer-type cutaneous melanoma, has been played down by Cancer Research UK. Experts warned that the study was too small to draw any meaningful conclusions and exposure to the sun is still by far the greatest contributory factor to skin cancer. The study by researchers at the a Clinical Epidemiology Unit, at the Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata in Rome asked around 290 people with skin cancer if they could remember how often they had used pesticides in the past, and compared their answers with a similar number who had not got skin cancer. By far the major risk factor for malignant melanoma is overexposure to strong sunlight. Ultraviolet radiation from the sun is thought to cause about 90% of all skin cancers. If people are worried about their risk of skin cancer they're better off putting on a t-shirt and sunhat, and not chucking out the bug spray.
Scientists are using a virtual-reality, three-dimensional video game that challenges spatial memory as a new tool for assessing the link between depression and the hippocampus, the brain's memory hub. Spatial memory is the memory of how things are oriented in space and how to get to them. Researchers found that depressed people performed poorly on the video game compared with nondepressed people, suggesting that their hippocampi were not working properly. Results were published by National Institute of Mental Health researcher Neda Gould and colleagues in the March issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. Earlier studies showed that people with mood disorders tend to have smaller hippocampi than nondepressed people. Previously, the scientists had given the same people a two-dimensional memory test traditionally used in such studies, in which they were asked to remember the locations of objects on a computer screen — similar to what they would have seen on paper. This two-dimensional test was not able to detect differences in spatial memory that the new video game was able to detect. The reason, Gould suggests, is that the virtual-reality, three-dimensional aspects of the video game engage areas of the hippocampus that the two-dimensional test does not. The game was developed by scientists at the University College of London and may point the way to new treatments for depression. With further development, it could help scientists track genetic and other biological factors, as well as environmental factors, that play a role in the illness.
When people receive brief telephone-based psychotherapy soon after starting on antidepressant medication, strong positive effects may continue 18 months after their first session. So concludes a Group Health study in the April Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. “With close to 400 patients, this is the largest study yet of psychotherapy delivered over the telephone,” said Evette J. Ludman, PhD, senior research associate, Group Health Center for Health Studies, the paper’s lead author. Long-term positive effects of initially adding phone-based therapy included improvements in patients’ symptoms of depression and satisfaction with their care, said Ludman. At 18 months, 77% of those who got phone-based therapy (but only 63% of those receiving regular care) reported their depression was “much” or “very much” improved. Those who received phone-based therapy were slightly better at taking their antidepressant medication as recommended. And effects were stronger for patients with moderate to severe depression than for those with mild depression.
Patients and therapists never met face to face, only over the phone, said
Ludman. Therapists followed a structured protocol for psychotherapy. They
encouraged the patients to identify and counter their negative thoughts
(cognitive behavioral therapy), pursue activities they had enjoyed in the
past (behavioral activation), and develop a plan to care for themselves.
What’s the first thing you do when someone has a suspected heart attack? The answer is mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But it dramatically increases the chances of the person dying, The Lancet reports. Doctors recommend mouth-to-mouth as part of first-aid care for heart attack patients. Someone who has almost drowned or taken a drugs overdose may look like a heart attack victim. In these cases, the victim has usually stopped breathing, and so mouth-to-mouth resuscitation combined with chest compression is the right thing to do. But most heart-attack victims are still breathing very lightly, or gasping, and so mouth-to-mouth is not only unnecessary, it may also increase the chances of death.
It’s been known a long time. A dramatic reduction of blood pressure levels is gained just by meditating. Patients who used the mantra-based Transcendental Meditation technique also reduced their insulin resistance, says the Archives of Internal Medicine. Meditators saw a significant reduction in their blood pressure without losing weight, changing diet or altering their medication over a 16-week programme. The study involved 52 heart patients, who were taught meditation techniques, and whose progress was compared with 51 non-meditators.
However, the findings also showed that people with diabetes need to be offered more help by local services to manage their diabetes themselves, particularly through access to education courses and while in hospital. The survey, carried out last autumn, is the largest ever of people with diabetes - over 68,500 people responded from across England. It also involved the participation of 1,500 general practices and all 152 primary care trusts (PCTs). This included checking blood pressure (98%), long-term blood glucose levels (91%), weight (91%), and cholesterol (89%). These are positive findings, but others areas show room for improvement.
The survey shows that only 11% of respondents had attended an education
course on diabetes and how to live with the condition, yet one in four
people who had not been on such a course said they wanted to attend one.
Osteoporosis, bone thinning, is a problem for many post menopausal women.
But now, a new drug could cut hip fractures by more than 40%. The drug is a
once-yearly treatment, and could prevent an estimated 60,000 hip fractures a
year.
http://www.carehomes.co.uk : care home index
IN THE PREVIOUS EDITION
If you take HRT for more than 5 years you may be at risk from ovarian cancer It may offer longer life An oat-based alternative to cream has been launched Drugs such as the antipsychotics and sedatives speed up the progress of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study has found A supplement can help protect your hearing as you age Quitters can also sign up to a new website... More useful health related websites
The complete family health guide
This work provides detailed instructions, illustrations and sample exercises that show the reader how to build a system of personalized frameworks for storing and recalling information on demand. |
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