While weight-loss surgery has been championed as an effective treatment for many severely obese adults who were otherwise unsuccessful at losing their excess weight, there is still an ongoing debate over the minimum age required to receive such a procedure.
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Even though our understanding and awareness of anorexia has improved, it s still not clear how best to treat anorexic patients when they arrive at the hospital. A severely underweight anorexic, who may be at risk of death, needs to regain that weight as soon as possible. But giving such patients too many calories early on can lead to a dangerous complication called refeeding syndrome, which in some cases can be fatal or lead to cardiac arrhythmia.
A new option for staving off pneumococcal pneumonia one of the biggest causes of death among older adults in the United States has just been approved for use in Americans aged 50 and older. The Prevnar 13 vaccine, produced by Pfizer, is formulated to protect against 13 forms of the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, which can cause pneumonia, meningitis, and other diseases. Pneumonia caused by this bacterium leads about 300,000 older adults to be hospitalized in the U.S. each year.
For those who are considering bariatric surgery, a new study from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden provides a compelling reason to undergo the procedure: It lowers the incidence of heart attack and stroke and decreases the number of cardiovascular-related deaths among patients.
It used to be that a person diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) was often subject to the dismal prognosis of a gradually but inexorably progressive disease. But developments over recent years are starting to change that outlook. New and more sophisticated drugs have been approved, and more are currently in Phase 3 clinical trials. So, patients with MS can now be more optimistic abut their future than ever before. As Dr.
Andrew Wakefield, the original architect of the phony autism-vaccine scare, has had the chutzpah to file a defamation suit against the journal BMJ, its editor, and a journalist for printing a scathing series of articles last January that attacked him for the ethical flaws in his retracted paper.
French public health agencies are recommending that women who received breast implants from the now defunct Poly Implants Protheses (PIP) manufacturer receive an explant, or removal of the implant, following reports of excessive ruptures. For those who do not wish to undergo this preventive, non-emergency procedure, an ultrasound every six months to monitor the implants is advised.
Adding HPV (human papillomavirus) screening to conventional Pap tests appears to significantly improve the early detection of precancerous cervical abnormalities and reduce the rate of subsequent cervical cancer, according to a new study in The Lancet Oncology.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for developing regulatory standards based on scientific assessments of a given chemical s toxicity.
After seeing countless health scares over the years, it is hard to surprise us here at ACSH with something new. But our jaws dropped upon seeing a report claiming that radiation from the meltdown of Japan s Fukushima nuclear reactor in March somehow caused 14,000 people in the U.S. to drop dead.
ACSH is happy to report on the latest American Cancer Society (ACS) statistics, which show that U.S. cancer death rates continue to fall. We reported on similar findings in June and April but confirmation of this downward trend is welcome news.
I was honored that the Wall Street Journal asked me last month to participate in an in-print debate regarding whether pharmaceutical patents should get a longer life.
My contribution was limited to 1,000 words, so there was much I could not say. Of this, probably the most interesting material involved each side answering questions taken from the other contributor's essay. What follows are the questions that were posed to me, and my response.
Although media coverage might lead us to believe that the U.S. obesity epidemic is only getting worse, two new studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggest that national obesity levels may actually be leveling off.
As we check in on the Gulf seafood scare one of ACSH s Top Health Scares of 2011 the FDA continues to reassure the public that Gulf seafood is indeed safe to eat. Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, there have been lingering concerns among the public that seafood from the Gulf coast may be contaminated by oil and chemicals used to diffuse the oil, known as dispersants.
In what amounts to a step backward, BASF, the giant German chemical company, has decided to halt its efforts to sell genetically modified (GM) products in Europe. Their decision comes in response to unfounded but continuing fears among European consumers that genetically modified products pose a health risk. As Stefan Marcinowski, a BASF board member, states, There is still a lack of acceptance for this technology in many parts of Europe.
Affecting over 2 million people in the U.S., atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heart beat) and can be associated with palpitations, chest pains, fainting, and congestive heart failure. The condition can be diagnosed by simply taking a patient s pulse or looking at an ECG. However, some people may not be aware that they have this condition; that is, they have silent AF.
As we enter the new year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides Americans with some optimistic statistics: We re living longer by about a month, to be more precise. According to the new report, the average life expectancy in 2009 was 78.6 years, compared to 78.7 years in 2010. During the same time period, U.S. death rates also dropped by about half a percent, with a 3.9 percent decline in infant mortality and a 13.3 percent drop for HIV/AIDS.
Speaking of allaying chemical fears, ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross gave a presentation yesterday to members of the International Fragrance Association in New Jersey. The topic was the pervasive influence of chemophobic fears on our policy makers and the public, which are largely based on ideology and junk science.
A group of at least 12 teenage girls in upstate New York have been beset by a host of mysterious Tourrette s-like symptoms. Multiple tests by experts have found that these bizarre symptoms, which include involuntary tics and verbal outbursts, have no apparent toxic or infectious origin, leading health experts to believe that they are most likely of psychological origin.
Although it s long been recommended that doctors measure a patient s blood pressure in both arms, this guideline is often ignored.
The New York City Department of Health is at it again: In their obsessive effort to oversee every aspect of New Yorkers diets, the agency used graphic ads plastered all over the subways depicting an overweight man with a missing leg. A caption over the image reads, Portions have grown. So has Type 2 diabetes, which can lead to amputations.
Limb amputation necessitated by severe circulatory problems is one of the most frightening risks that diabetics face.
When it comes to treating high cholesterol and its consequences, it seems that statins don t discriminate by gender even though men have a much higher rate of cardiovascular disease. According to a meta-analysis of over 141,000 patients, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, statins reduced major cardiovascular events by 19 percent in females and 23 percent in males.
A Baltimore man whose tracheal cancer had progressed beyond the point of operation now has a second chance at life, thanks to a remarkable new procedure. Christopher Lyles is a 30-year-old electrical engineer who, just last November, received a tracheal transplant made from plastic fibers covered by his own stem cells. The procedure, which was led by Dr.
The Environmental Protection Agency s new National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants would only minimally benefit public health, while costing many millions of dollars, write Dr. Willie Soon and Paul Driessen in a Washington Times op-ed. The new standards target emissions of mercury and other airborne toxics from coal- and oil-fired power plants and electric generating units. But to what purpose, Soon and Driessen ask?
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