A study coauthored by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of California at San Diego suggests that obesity is "socially contagious," spreading from person to person in a social network. The study, the first to examine this phenomenon, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It found that if one person becomes obese, those closely connected to them have a greater chance of becoming obese themselves. Surprisingly, the greatest effect is seen not among people sharing the same genes or the same household but among friends. The researchers said their study showed that not only is obesity contagious, but so is thinness and that has implications for policy makers as they consider the best measures for making society healthier.
MARIJUANA: CANNABIS COULD INCREASE RISK OF PYCHOTIC ILLNESS
Researchers at the University of Bristol and Cardiff University report that using marijuana could increase the risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life. The study, published in The Lancet, was based on an analysis of 35 studies. It found that individuals who had ever used cannabis were 41 percent more likely than those who had never used the drug to have any psychosis. The risk increased relative to dose, with the most frequent cannabis users more than twice as likely to have a psychotic outcome. Depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety outcomes were examined separately, and findings for these outcomes were less consistent, with fewer attempts made to address non-causal explanations than for psychosis.
BREAST CANCER: STUDY CONFIRMS LINK TO HORMONE THERAPY
A sharp drop in breast cancer rates from 2003 to 2004 is linked to an even larger drop in women's use of hormone therapy that began around 2000, according to a Kaiser Permanente study. The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, confirms the connection between breast cancer, hormone therapy and mammography screening over the past 25 years. The researchers said the new analysis provides even stronger evidence that recent declines in menopausal hormone therapy use are linked with lower incidence of breast cancer.
TRANSFUSIONS: DONATED BLOOD UNLIKELY TO SPREAD CANCER
Individuals who receive blood transfusions from donors with undiagnosed cancers are at no higher risk of developing malignant disease than people who receive blood from donors without cancer, according to the results of a study published in The Lancet. Before donated blood can be used in a clinical setting, it must go through a battery of tests to ensure that no diseases are passed between the donor and recipient. However, while the risk of transmission of infectious agents is well established and precautions are routinely taken, establishing whether there is also a possibility of transmission of chronic diseases such as cancer through blood transfusions has been more difficult. The researchers built a database of blood donors and recipients who developed cancer within five years of giving or receiving blood. The researchers identified 978 cases of cancer among all the blood recipients but after statistical analysis they found no excess risk of cancer overall among individuals who had received one or more blood products from a precancerous blood donor.
OBESITY: FAT GIRLS ARE HALF AS LIKELY TO ATTEND COLLEGE AS NON-OBESE GIRLS
Obese girls are half as likely to attend college as non-obese girls, according to a study from The University of Texas at Austin. The study also shows obese girls are even less likely to enter college if they attend a high school where obesity is relatively uncommon. The findings, published in the journal Sociology of Education, show that the harmful effects of obesity extend far beyond physical health. The disconnect between obesity and college enrollment was more pronounced among non-whites and among girls whose parents did not graduate from college. Obese boys did not differ from their non-obese peers in college enrollment.
POLLUTION: RESEARCHERS LINK DIRTY AIR TO CLOGGED ARTERIES
A study from researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has found a link between diesel exhaust and atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which significantly increases one's risk for heart attack and stroke. The findings, published in the online journal Genome Biology, are the first to explain how fine particles in air pollution conspire with artery-clogging fats to switch on the genes that cause blood vessel inflammation and lead to cardiovascular disease. The researchers said the combination of diesel exhaust and cholesterol creates a dangerous synergy that wreaks cardiovascular havoc far beyond what's caused by the diesel or cholesterol alone.
MERCURY: ONE IN FOUR ADULTS IN NEW YORK CITY HAVE ELEVATED LEVELS IN BLOOD
A quarter of adult New Yorkers have elevated blood mercury levels, and the elevations are closely tied to fish consumption, according to a survey from the New York City Health Department. Asian and higher-income New Yorkers eat more fish, and have higher average mercury levels, than others both locally and nationally. The department said the mercury levels pose little if any health risk for most adults, but may increase the risk of cognitive delays for children whose mothers had very high mercury levels during pregnancy.
HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE: DRUG PROTECTS BRAIN CELLS
A drug used in some countries to treat the symptoms of Huntington's disease prevents death of brain cells in mice genetically engineered to mimic the hereditary condition, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center reported. Their work sheds light on the biochemical mechanisms involved in the fatal disease and suggests new avenues of study for preventing brain-cell death in at-risk people before symptoms appear. The drug, tetrabenazine or TBZ, is marketed as Xenazine or Nitoman and blocks the action of the neurotransmitter dopamine. The drug is not available in the United States. The researchers, who published their findings in The Journal of Neuroscience, said the drug can actually prevent brain cells from dying.
ALCOHOL: EAT FISH IF YOU DRINK LIKE ONE
A study from researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has found that men who binge drink have substandard intake of n-3 fats, one of two types of essential fatty acids, indicating poor dietary choices with negative long-term health consequences. Essential fatty acids are important building blocks of living cells, making up a substantial part of cell walls. They also have many biological functions, and a lack of them leads to loss of growth and development, infertility and a host of physiological and biochemical abnormalities. For people who drink, especially binge drinkers or those who consume more than one serving of alcohol per day on average, the researchers said they should make sure that they obtain sources of n-3 fatty acids in the diet—that is, eat more fish.
OBESITY: METABOLIC DEFECT IN LIVER CAN CAUSE SOME TO BE FAT
Researchers at the nonprofit basic research institute Monell Chemical Senses Center have identified a genetically-transmitted metabolic defect that can lead to obesity in some individuals. The defect involves decreased production of liver enzymes needed to burn fat and may help to explain why some people become obese while others remain thin. The study, published in the journal Metabolism, points to fat oxidation in the liver as a target for the development of drugs that suppress appetite and promote weight loss in obese individuals.
ITCHING: GENE IDENTIFIED FOR SENSATION
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the first gene for the itch sensation in the central nervous system. The discovery could rapidly lead to new treatments directly targeting itchiness and providing relief for chronic and severe itching. The "itch gene," known as GRPR (gastrin-releasing peptide receptor), codes for a receptor found in a very small population of spinal cord nerve cells where pain and itch signals are transmitted from the skin to the brain. The researchers found that laboratory mice that lacked this gene scratched much less than their normal cage-mates when given itchy stimuli. The findings, reported in the online version of the journal Nature, offered the first evidence of a receptor specific for the itch sensation in the central nervous system.
TUBERCULOSIS: TRIALS UNDERWAY FOR FIRST VACCINE IN 80 YEARS
Clinical trials are underway for the first new vaccine against TB in more than 80 years. If successful, the tests will have major implications for TB control and could lead to the development of a new vaccine ready to use within eight years. The vaccine was developed by Wellcome Trust researchers at the University of Oxford. The work is being pursued through a Strategic Translational Award from Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust to develop and test the vaccine. Additional funding has been provided by the European Commission. Currently, the only vaccine against it is the BCG vaccine, which is administered to infants throughout the developing world and most of the developed world. However, the vaccination is thought to be effective only in preventing severe forms of the disease and is not effective in adults.
OCCUPATIONAL ASTHMA: NURSES AND CLEANERS FACE HIGHEST RISKS
Nurses are more than twice as likely as the general population to develop occupational asthma, according to a study published in The Lancet. Researchers at the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona found that cleaners were at a 71 percent higher risk of developing occupational-related asthma compared to the general public, and that workplace conditions could be responsible for up to 25 percent of new asthma cases in industrialized countries. The authors believe there could be a number of reasons for the increased risk to nurses, including exposure to sensitizing substances, respiratory allergens and irritants such as sterilizers and disinfectants.
RELIGION: FAITHFUL DOCTORS LESS LIKELY TO SERVE THE POOR
Although most religious traditions call on the faithful to serve the poor, a large cross-sectional survey of U.S. physicians found that physicians who are more religious are slightly less likely to practice medicine among the underserved than physicians with no religious affiliation. In an article published in the Annals of Family Medicine, researchers from the University of Chicago and Yale New Haven Hospital report that 31 percent of physicians who were more religious practiced among the underserved, compared to 35 percent of physicians who described their religion as atheist, agnostic or none. The researchers said even the more religious physicians who reported that their families emphasized service to the poor and that, for them, the practice of medicine was a calling, were no more likely to practice among the underserved.
DIABETES: CLASS OF DRUGS INCREASES RISK OF HEART FAILURE
A class of drugs commonly used to treat type-2 diabetes may double the risk of heart failure, according to a new analysis by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues. Based on a review of research studies and case reports involving more than 78,000 patients, the authors concluded that the risk of heart failure may be up to 100 percent higher in patients taking thiazolinediones, which includes Avandia and Actos. These drugs are known to enhance insulin sensitivity. The study, published in Diabetes Care, estimated that one additional patient with type 2-diabetes would develop heart failure for every 50 patients taking the drugs over a 26-month period.
UNIVERSAL HEALTH: BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION INTRODUCED IN HOUSE
A bipartisan group of Congressional representatives introduced legislation that calls for health care coverage for all Americans through a pool of private insurance plans, the Associated Press reported. The proposal, dubbed the Healthy Americans Act, follows the introduction of a similar plan in the Senate. The plan calls for employers to provide health insurance for their workers for the first four years and then to convert the premiums into higher wages that employees would use to purchase insurance. Coverage would be guaranteed, even if someone loses a job, and would be equal to that of members of Congress, lawmakers said. Under the proposed legislation, individuals would be able to choose among a variety of plans in their state.
LEGISLATION: MEASURE MANDATES TAXPAYERS GET FREE ACCESS TO NIH RESEARCH FINDINGS
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a measure directing the National Institutes of Health to provide free public online access to agency-funded research findings within 12 months of their publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The provision passed with broad bipartisan support as part of the Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Bill for fiscal 2008. The current NIH Public Access Policy, implemented in 2005 as a voluntary measure, has resulted in the deposit of less than 5 percent of eligible research by individual investigators. According to the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, a coalition of patient, academic, research, and publishing organizations that supports open public access to the results of federally funded research.
.gif)
