- Author: Health Informer
- Filed under: Health News
- Date: May 6,2011
Bladder Cancer Awareness Day – Despite being the 4th most common cancer in men and the 11th most common in women[1], over half the people surveyed across Great Britain have no idea what the risk factors for developing bladder cancer are[2].
Only 5% think smoking and 1% think using chemicals at work cause it, whereas these are the two main risk factors for bladder cancer. The most common symptom of, or warning sign for, bladder cancer is blood in the urine, but only half of those surveyed mentioned this[2].
In the United States, May 7th is Bladder Cancer Awareness Day. The survey findings from Action on Bladder Cancer (ABC) mark this date with a long term commitment to increase UK understanding of the causes of bladder cancer, allowing people to seek help and treatment earlier for improved outcomes in care. With over 10,000 people being diagnosed every year in the UK, ABC is calling for greater public support to move bladder cancer higher up the public health agenda to receive greater attention alongside prostate, breast and lung cancer.
“The profile of bladder cancer and, as a result, the care of patients can be significantly improved by asking the public and healthcare professionals and providers to become involved in our dedicated advocacy group, ABC – we want to work together to make a difference,” commented Mr Colin Bunce, Chair of ABC and Consultant Urologist, Middlesex. Read the rest of this entry »
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- Author: Health Informer
- Filed under: Health News
- Date: May 5,2011
Rules to prevent potentially unsafe food from reaching consumers
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced two new regulations that will help ensure the safety and security of foods in the United States. The rules are the first to be issued by the FDA under the new authorities granted the agency by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), signed into law by President Obama in January. Both rules will take effect July 3, 2011.
The first rule strengthens FDA’s ability to prevent potentially unsafe food from entering commerce. It allows the FDA to administratively detain food the agency believes has been produced under insanitary or unsafe conditions. Previously, the FDA’s ability to detain food products applied only when the agency had credible evidence that a food product presented was contaminated or mislabeled in a way that presented a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.
Beginning in July, the FDA will be able to detain food products that it has reason to believe are adulterated or misbranded for up to 30 days, if needed, to ensure they are kept out of the marketplace. The products will be kept out of the marketplace while the agency determines whether an enforcement action such as seizure or federal injunction against distribution of the product in commerce is necessary. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: Health Informer
- Filed under: Health News
- Date: May 3,2011
Doctors should consider using catheterization as a treatment tool in addition to its established role in diagnosing children with heart defects, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement.
A catheter is a thin flexible tube inserted into a blood vessel and used in procedures such as angiography, in which physicians use the catheter to inject dye into the arteries near the heart to illuminate the vessels via X-ray technology. It can also open a valve, enlarge a narrow blood vessel, close a hole in the heart or close off a blood vessel.
The statement, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, is a major overhaul of the association’s last statement released in 1998.
“What we can offer patients now, versus just 10 or 15 years ago, is remarkably different,” said Timothy F. Feltes, M.D., lead author of the statement and chief of pediatric cardiology and professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University. “There have been tremendous advances in the procedures, devices, experience and the expertise of the physicians who perform the procedures. As physicians caring for patients with congenital heart disease, we have to look at heart catheterizations a little differently than we have in the past.” Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: Health Informer
- Filed under: Health News
- Date: May 2,2011
More than two-thirds of high-risk patients missed if recommended hemoglobin A1C test used alone
A new study found that the recommended blood test may not be enough to catch type 2 diabetes in overweight children, missing more than two-thirds of children at high-risk for the condition. Researchers from Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics found that performing two tests – both the recommended hemoglobin A1C test and an oral glucose tolerance test – could dramatically reduce the risk of delayed diagnosis in overweight children. The findings were presented Saturday at the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting in Denver.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) revised clinical practice recommendations for type 2 diabetes screening in 2010 in an effort to encourage more screening and earlier diagnosis. While the oral glucose tolerance test was previously considered the gold standard for diabetes screening, diagnosis using hemoglobin A1C does not require a long fast beforehand, making it easier for patients.
“Our research indicates that special consideration may need to be given to overweight children being tested for diabetes,” said lead researcher Ghufran S. Babar, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Mercy. “Simply following the guidelines may not be enough to ensure these children get proper care.”
The study evaluated the charts of 629 overweight and adolescent patients who had both tests. According to the findings, 40 percent of type 2 diabetes patients and 67 percent of high-risk patients identified through the oral glucose tolerance test would have shown a normal glycemic status if only the hemoglobin A1C test were used to diagnose them. Nearly nine out of ten patients (86 percent) had normal blood glucose levels according to their hemoglobin A1C results. Read the rest of this entry »