SanLuisObispo.com: Health

Lifestyles of Brazil's ancient urbanites revealed

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:01 PDT

Roads and canals connected walled cities and villages. The communities were laid out around central plazas. Nearby, smaller settlements focused on agriculture and fish farming.

The place: the now-overgrown jungles of Brazil.

The time: centuries before Europeans landed in the Americas.

CDC: Salmonella outbreak appears to be over

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:12 PDT

The government said Thursday that the salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 1,440 people appears to be over, but its ultimate source may never be known, partly because of shortcomings in the nation's food safety system.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said they found strong evidence to implicate jalapeno and serrano peppers, and a farm in Mexico, in the largest outbreak of foodborne illness in a decade. Investigators were unable to clear domestic and imported tomatoes, however, although the evidence against tomatoes is weaker.

The FDA also lifted its warning that consumers avoid eating jalapeno and serrano peppers from Mexico. But officials pointedly said that doesn't guarantee another such outbreak can be prevented.

Tracking Alzheimer's-linked protein in live brains

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:01 PDT

Scientists for the first time have peered into people's brains to directly measure the ebb and flow of a substance notorious for its role in Alzheimer's disease.

The delicate research was performed not with Alzheimer's patients but with people suffering severe brain injuries - because a brain injury increases the risk of developing dementia later in life.

The goal is to learn why, so that doctors one day might be able to lower that risk.

Why does my stomach growl so much?

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:37 PDT

Q: My stomach growls after I have eaten and most of the time it growls when I don't feel hungry. Can you please tell why this happens?

A: The "growling" is almost certainly normal and is the result of peristalsis. Peristalsis is coordinated rhythmic contractions of the stomach and intestines that move food and waste. It occurs all of the time, whether or not you are hungry. The contractions can become more intense (louder) with certain foods - such as those that contain large amounts of fiber - or even with stress. Some people just have more intense/louder contractions. Unless you also have persistent pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite or weight loss, you should consider it the sign of a healthy gastrointestinal system. If you have any of these other symptoms, you should check with your doctor.

Study: 12 percent of Indian deaths due to alcohol

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:12 PDT

Almost 12 percent of the deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives are alcohol-related - more than three times the percentage in the general population, a new federal report says.

The report released Thursday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found 11.7 percent of deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives between 2001 and 2005 were alcohol-related, compared with 3.3 percent for the U.S. as a whole.

Dwayne Jarman, a CDC epidemiologist who works for the Indian Health Service and is one of the study's authors, said it is the first national survey that measures American Indian deaths due to alcohol. It should be a "call to action" for federal, state, local and tribal governments, he said.

Correction: Hot Dogs-Cancer story

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:16 PDT

In an Aug. 26 story about a new TV ad linking hot dogs with cancer, The Associated Press, relying on figures provided by a nutrition adviser to the American Institute for Cancer Research, erroneously reported average risks for colon cancer and how eating hot dogs affects those risks. Karen Collins said she misstated the average adult's lifetime risk for getting colorectal cancer, which is about 5 percent, not 5.8 percent.

She said she also miscalculated population-level risks of eating one hot dog a day for several years. That would increase the number of Americans who get colorectal cancer each year from 50 per 100,000 to 60 per 100,000 people - not from 58 per 100,000 to 70 per 100,000, as she had stated.

She said the level of risk is smaller for eating a hot dog once or twice a month but that it can't be precisely quantified. It would not mean up to a 1.4 percent increase in colon cancer risk, as she had indicated.

Cells change identity in promising breakthrough

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:01 PDT

Talk about an extreme makeover: Scientists have transformed one type of cell into another in living mice, a big step toward the goal of growing replacement tissues to treat a variety of diseases.

The cell identity switch turned ordinary pancreas cells into the rarer type that churns out insulin, essential for preventing diabetes. But its implications go beyond diabetes to a host of possibilities, scientists said.

It's the second advance in about a year that suggests that someday doctors might be able to use a patient's own cells to treat disease or injury without turning to stem cells taken from embryos.

Arctic sea ice drops to 2nd lowest level on record

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:01 PDT

More ominous signs Wednesday have scientists saying that a global warming "tipping point" in the Arctic seems to be happening before their eyes: Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is at its second lowest level in about 30 years.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that sea ice in the Arctic now covers about 2.03 million square miles. The lowest point since satellite measurements began in 1979 was 1.65 million square miles set last September.

With about three weeks left in the Arctic summer, this year could wind up breaking that previous record, scientists said.

Purdue reprimands fusion scientist for misconduct

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:20 PDT

Purdue University on Wednesday reprimanded a scientist who has been accused of falsifying claims he produced nuclear fusion in tabletop experiments.

Rusi Taleyarkhan made headlines in 2002 when he published a paper in the journal Science claiming that he had produced nuclear fusion, long sought as an energy source by scientists, by making tiny bubbles collapse in a liquid.

A university panel did not investigate the Science paper, which was published when Taleyarkhan was a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, but said he misled the scientific community by claiming his "bubble fusion" findings had been independently replicated.

Fay leaves behind lots of water for Fla. lake

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:25 PDT

Tropical Storm Fay brought some good news to the state's parched Everglades and its liquid heart, Lake Okeechobee - lots and lots of water.

The lake, a backup drinking water source for 5 million people, rose more than 2 feet in a single week. That's about 288 billion gallons, equivalent to about 84 days worth of water used in South Florida for drinking, watering lawns and other purposes.

It was the first time since record-keeping started in 1931 that the lake saw such a dramatic rise, according to the South Florida Water Management District.

Police: Disabled Palestinian siblings hidden away

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:16 PDT

A Palestinian couple locked their disabled son and daughter away for decades out of fear they would ruin the marriage prospects of a healthy child if discovered, police said Wednesday.

The case highlights the shame felt by families who have children with disabilities in Palestinian society - made worse because of poor services and the practice of marriages between first cousins.

"This is sad, shameful and awful," rights activist Imad Abumohr said.

In NYC, new HIV infections 3 times national rate

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:16 PDT

New data show New York City residents are contracting the virus that causes AIDS at three times the national rate.

The city health department said Wednesday that almost 4,800 New Yorkers were infected with HIV in 2006. That number represents 72 of every 100,000 residents, compared to a national rate of 23 per 100,000.

The figures pinpoint when people became infected with the virus, not just when they were diagnosed.

Husband gets guardianship in Schiavo-like case

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:59 PDT

A judge on Wednesday granted temporary guardianship to the husband of a woman on a feeding tube in a case similar to the lengthy legal dispute over whether Terri Schiavo should be kept alive.

Karen Weber, 57, has been in and out of a nursing home and hospital since having a stroke in December.

She is now hospitalized on a feeding tube in Okeechobee and suffering from meningitis, her mother, Martha Tatro, said Wednesday.

Study outcome won't sway company on eye drug

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:00 PDT

What does a company do when there's anecdotal evidence that two of its drugs are equally effective in treating a leading cause of blindness in the elderly, one costing patients $60 per treatment and the other $2,000?

In the case of Genentech Inc., nothing.

The company declined to seek federal approval for the cheaper drug, Avastin, to treat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration. Nor would it help finance - or cooperate with - a National Eye Institute study comparing the effectiveness and safety of Avastin, a cancer drug, and the more expensive eye drug, Lucentis.

FDA OKs blood test for heart transplant rejection

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:03 PDT

Government regulators on Wednesday cleared the way for broader use of a blood test that can spare heart transplant patients the ordeal of repeated biopsies to check if their bodies are rejecting the new organ.

The Food and Drug Administration said the test, called AlloMap, is an example of how the science of genetics is changing the practice of medicine.

The test analyzes certain kinds of genetic information contained in white blood cells. These are the cells that help the body fight off infections - but can also turn against a donated organ with devastating effects. After a patient's blood sample is checked in the lab, it is assigned a score that tells doctors what the odds are that the body is rejecting a transplanted heart.

Arctic sea ice melts to second worst on record

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:42 PDT

New satellite measurements show that crucial sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has plummeted to its second lowest level on record.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., announced Wednesday that the extent of sea ice in the Arctic is down to 2.03 million square miles. The lowest point on record is 1.65 million square miles set last September. With about three weeks left in the melt season, the record may fall, scientists say.

Arctic ice always melts in summer and refreezes in winter. But over the years, more and more of the ice is lost to the sea and not recovered in winter. That's important because the Arctic acts as a refrigerator for the globe.