Yet another new study has shown a link between asthma and Paracetamol. According to a study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 13– and 14–year–olds who take paracetamol are more than twice as likely to have asthma as teens the same age who never take paracetamol.
A team of scientists led by a researcher in New Zealand worked with 322,959 children, aged 13 to 14 years, at 113 centers throughout 50 countries.
The majority of the teens (73%) reported using acetaminophen at least once in the previous year (medium use), and 30% said they had used it at least once a month (high use).
Investigators eventually discovered that those using paracetamol at least monthly had 2.5 times the asthma risk of nonusers. Once–a–year users had a 43% increase in risk of asthma.
Frequent users of Paracetamol were also more than twice as likely to have rhinoconjunctivitis as kids who never took the drug, while medium users had a 38 percent greater risk.
For eczema, frequent users had a 99 percent increased risk, while medium users had a 31 percent increased risk. Frequent users of paracetamol were 2.75 times as likely to say their wheezing was so bad it disturbed their sleep and limited their ability to speak.
However, the study does not show that the drug causes the problems. It is equally likely that the children were taking the drug because they were already suffering from asthma
Smokers who quit the habit after suffering a heart attack have a lower rate of repeat heart attacks. They also live longer than their counterparts who continue to smoke. According to a new study, survivors of heart attack with LV dysfunction may benefit as much from smoking cessation as other heart attack patients do. The researchers headed by Dr. Amil M. Shah, cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that among 2,231 patients with LV dysfunction, those who quit smoking within six months of their heart attack were less likely to die within five years or suffer a repeat attack than smokers who continued the habit. They also had 30 % less chances of suffering a repeat heart attack or be hospitalized for heart failure or death
If a patient does not have the mental capacity to take medical decisions, a surrogate decision maker should be identified. If there is a surrogate identified in an advance care document or proxy form, that surrogate has authority. Often, however, surrogates are not formally appointed and relatives are used in the following order (precise order may vary by applicable law*): Spouse; Adult child or a majority of the adult children reasonably available; Parents of the patient; Siblings of the patient; nearest living relative of the patient.
Many have maintained that the incapacitated patient’s family is the most appropriate surrogate decision maker. In the 1980s, many courts affirmed this view, recognizing that when patients had explicit but unrecorded conversations with family, friends, and others about their wishes regarding terminating treatments, these conversations should be used as decision–making guides.
*Beauchamp TL, Childress JF. Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 5th ed, Oxford, New York 2001.
The US FDA has warned consumers not to take TimeOut Capsules because they contain an active drug ingredient that can cause blood pressure to fall, which can be life–threatening. It contains hydroxythiohomosildenafil, a chemical similar to sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra. Like sildenafil, this chemical may interact with prescription drugs such as nitrates, including nitroglycerin, and cause dangerously low blood pressure. The product is marketed as a dietary supplement for sexual enhancement. TimeOut is labeled as “100% natural” and is distributed on Internet sites and online marketplaces as 2,500 mg capsules
Q. Is IVF the last option?
A. IVF is the option, which has highest success rate and is also the most expensive. But, it is not the “end of the road”. Many women have conceived naturally or with intrauterine insemination, even after IVF. However, for those with blocked tubes and very poor sperm counts, it is the only option.
Q.Is IVF very expensive?
A. IVF is not as expensive as perceived in general. Generally, the cost of IVF cycle depends upon the dose of drugs that would be needed for ovarian stimulation. It is only as expensive as perhaps gall stone removal or removal of uterus surgery.
Q. Does one need to get admitted for the IVF process?
A. A patient undergoing IVF does not require admission. However, one should visit the center 3–5 times during monitoring cycle. On the day of egg collection, the patient would need to fast for 6 hours and come to clinic (the procedure takes about half an hour). Patients can go home after the effect of anesthesia weans off which takes about 2–3 hours. The next scheduled visit is after 2 -3 days for the embryo transfer, which again takes about half an hour and patients are free to go home after resting for one hour.
Doctors say if left untreated, high blood pressure can increases the risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke. A large British study of more than 11,000 European men and women, by researchers at the University of Cambridge, reaffirms that salt intake has a significant effect on blood pressure, and it is clearly something that one can control.
The study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition noted that people who took in and excreted more salt had higher blood pressure, regardless of genetic factor or the gene for angiotensinogen, a molecule that can raise blood pressure by tightening arteries.
The study clearly showed that people who had high salt intake were the ones who had high blood pressure. This was independent of the genotype for this specific gene
A new statement on air pollution issued in May by the American Heart Association (AHA) revealed that evidence linking air pollution to heart disease and deaths has ‘substantially strengthened’. A strong link with heart attacks, increasing evidence for links to heart failure, stroke, irregular heart beats, cardiac arrest and vascular diseases, and a ‘small yet consistent’ link between short–term exposure to high pollution levels and death has been found
According to an American Cancer Institute–funded study published in August 9/23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, belly bulge can be deadly for older adults, even those who aren’t overweight or obese by other measures. The study showed that men and women with the biggest waistlines have twice the risk of dying over a decade compared to those with the smallest tummies. Bigger waists carry a greater risk of death even for people whose weight is ‘normal’ by the body mass index, or BMI, a standard measure based on weight and height.
Men who had a waist size of 47 inches (120 centimeters) or higher and women with waists of 43 inches or larger had about twice the risk of dying over the 9–year study period than those with the smallest waist size of about 35 inches in men and 30 inches in women. Larger middles have been linked in previous studies to higher death rates, as well as to diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol.
Researchers from the Epidemiology Research Program of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta looked at data among 48,500 men and 56,343 women ages 50 and older who were mostly white and took part in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort, following participants until 2006, at which point 9,315 men and 5,332 women had died. Men and women with the largest waist circumferences also tended to be less educated, have a high BMI, were physically inactive, used to smoke and had a history of cardiovascular or respiratory disease or cancer.
The findings of a study state that measuring certain proteins in spinal fluid, beta amyloid and tau, can accurately diagnose Alzheimer’s, predict which patients with memory problems will develop the fatal brain–wasting disease and help identify early signs of the disease in healthy people. The study headed by Belgian researcher Geert De Meyer of Ghent University in Belgium is published in the Archives of Neurology
MRI can be used to help diagnose
- Tumors in the pelvic, abdominal or chest areas, reproductive organs, kidneys or urinary tract.
- Some heart problems.
- Enlarged or blocked blood vessels.
- Abnormalities that affect the liver, gallbladder, and bile and pancreatic ducts.
- The cause of pelvic pain, which could include endometriosis, fibroids or adenomyosis.
- Abnormalities affecting the uterus.
- Breast cancer.
