Is It Just A Cold Or Is It Allergies?

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Mar 31,2011

Experts at Cincinnati Children’s Give Parents Tips on How to Tell the Difference

One of the problems that parents may have during the springtime is deciphering whether their children’s sneezing is due to a cold or allergies.

“Runny, stuffy or itchy noses, sneezing, coughing, fatigue, and headaches can all be symptoms of both allergies and colds but when parents pay close attention to minor details they will be able to tell the difference,” says Michelle Lierl, MD, a pediatric allergist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

“Children who have springtime or fall allergies have much more itching of their noses; they often have fits of sneezing and usually rub their noses in an upward motion.  They also complain about an itchy, scratchy throat or itchy eyes, whereas with a cold, they don’t,” she said.

Dr. Lierl also said that nasal discharge for allergy patients is usually clear and has the consistency of watery mucus, while patients who have colds usually have yellowish mucus discharge.

Dr. Lierl said that there is a blood test called the Immunocap, or RAST, that can screen for allergy to specific foods or airborne allergens.  RAST can be ordered by any doctor, but it is important that patients or their parents talk with their doctors first. Children experiencing seasonal allergy symptoms should be tested for environmental allergens present during that season and not for food allergies or allergens present during seasons when they had no symptoms. The results of the RAST test are back after seven to 10 days, whereas allergists can do allergy skin testing in one day in the doctor’s office.

If parents discover that their children have allergies, Dr. Lierl suggests the following tips to combat symptoms: Read the rest of this entry »

Avoiding Health Risks Could Prevent More than Half of All Cases of Atrial Fibrillation

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Mar 30,2011

Reducing cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes and being overweight could potentially reduce more than half of all cases of atrial fibrillation, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

More than 2 million Americans live with atrial fibrillation (AF), an irregular heart rhythm that occurs when the heart’s two upper chambers beat erratically, causing the chambers to pump blood rapidly, unevenly and inefficiently. Blood can pool and clot in the chambers, increasing the risk of stroke or heart attack. AF affects about 3 percent to 5 percent of people over age 65 and is related to about 15 percent of all strokes.

“We now know that a significant proportion of all cases of atrial fibrillation can be avoided,” said Alvaro Alonso, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., co-author of the study and assistant professor of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in Minneapolis. “Ideally, if individuals were able to maintain a normal blood pressure and healthy body weight and didn’t smoke, not only would it reduce their risks for other forms of cardiovascular disease, such as heart disease and stroke, but it also would significantly impact the risk of developing atrial fibrillation in later life.”

In the study, 57 percent of the AF episodes were linked to specific risk factors, including high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, overweight and other heart diseases. Of these risks, high blood pressure was the strongest predictor, accounting for more than one-fifth of all cases.

The researchers also identified gender and racial differences in risk factor prevalence, with more than 80 percent of African Americans having one or more risk factors compared to 60 percent of whites. Only about 2 percent of African-American men and African-American women had optimal risk factors versus 3 percent white men and 10 percent of white women with optimal risk. Read the rest of this entry »

Moderate Sleep and Less Stress May Help With Weight Loss

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Mar 30,2011

Kaiser Permanente study finds people who slept 6-8 hours a night and reported lower stress levels lost more weight

If you want to increase your chances of losing weight, reduce your stress level and get adequate sleep. A new Kaiser Permanente study found that people trying to lose at least 10 pounds were more likely to reach that goal if they had lower stress levels and slept more than six hours, but not more than eight hours, a night.

The paper, published in the International Journal of Obesity, was the result of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Nearly 500 participants from Kaiser Permanente in Oregon and Washington took part in the study, which measured whether sleep, stress, depression, television viewing and computer screen time were correlated with weight loss. Several previous studies have found an association between these factors and obesity, but few have looked at whether these factors predict weight loss.

“This study suggests that when people are trying to lose weight, they should try to get the right amount of sleep and reduce their stress,” said lead author Charles Elder, MD, MPH, an investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., who also leads Integrative Medicine at Kaiser Permanente Northwest. “Some people may just need to cut back on their schedules and get to bed earlier. Others may find that exercise can reduce stress and help them sleep. For some people, mind/body techniques such as meditation also might be helpful.” Read the rest of this entry »

Antioxidant Formula Prior to Radiation Exposure May Prevent DNA Injury

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Mar 29,2011

Small Trial Finds That Pre-administering a Mixture Easily Absorbed Into Body Is Safe for Adults, May Provide Protection Against Cell Damage, Say Interventional Radiologists

A unique formulation of antioxidants taken orally before imaging with ionizing radiation minimizes cell damage, noted researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 36th Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, Ill. In what the researchers say is the first clinical trial of its kind, as much as a 50 percent reduction in DNA injury was observed after administering the formula prior to CT scans.

“In our initial small study, we found that pre-administering to patients a proprietary antioxidant formulation resulted in a notable dose-dependent reduction in DNA injury,” said Kieran J. Murphy, M.D., FSIR, professor and vice chair, director of research and deputy chief of radiology at the University of Toronto and University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “This could play an important role in protecting adults and children who require imaging or a screening study,” he added.

“Pre-administering this formula before a medical imaging exam may be one of the most important tools to provide radioprotection and especially important for patients in the getting CT scans,” said Murphy. The study’s data support the theory about a protective effect during these kinds of exposure, he explained.

“There is currently a great deal of controversy in determining the cancer risks associated with medical imaging exams. Although imaging techniques, such as CT scans and mammograms, provide crucial and often life-saving information to doctors and patients, they work by irradiating people with X-rays, and there is some evidence that these can, in the long run, cause cancer,” explained Murphy. The interventional radiologist researchers responded to this patient need by exploring a way to protect individuals from these potentially harmful effects. This may be of importance to interventional and diagnostic radiologists and X-ray technologists who have occupational exposure also.

The small study showed that even though many antioxidants are poorly absorbed by the body, one particular mixture was effective in protecting against the specific type of injury caused by medical imaging exams. People are 70 percent water, and X-rays collide with water molecules to produce free radicals (groups of atoms with an unpaired number of electrons that are dangerous when they react with cellular components, causing damage and even cell death) that can go on to do damage by direct ionization of DNA and other cellular targets, noted Murphy. The research team evaluated whether a special combination of antioxidants have an ability to neutralize these free radicals before they can do damage. Read the rest of this entry »