Health department focusing efforts on reaching groups still smoking at higher rates

Washington’s adult smoking rate has hit a new low for the sixth consecutive year. Results from the state’s most recent survey show the smoking rate has dropped to 15.3 percent — down from 16.5 percent the previous year. Washington has the sixth lowest smoking rate in the nation and remains well below the national rate of 18.4 percent.

“Tobacco prevention and control is a priority in our state, and it’s paying off. Fewer people who smoke means fewer people suffering or dying from tobacco-related diseases. It also means our state will save billions of dollars in future health care costs,” said Governor Chris Gregoire. “We must continue to look for ways to reach people who are addicted to this deadly habit, and keep kids from ever starting so they’ll live longer, healthier lives.”

The adult smoking rate in Washington has dropped more than 30 percent since the state began its Tobacco Prevention and Control Program in 2000. There are now 295,000 fewer people smoking in the state and an estimated 98,000 people will be spared early, tobacco-related deaths. The decline in smoking will save an estimated $2.8 billion in future health care costs. The state has reached its 10-year goal of reducing the adult smoking rate to 16.5 percent or less by 2010. With that the Department of Health has established a new goal of reducing adult smoking to 14 percent or less by 2013.

The department is refocusing efforts to help groups still smoking at higher rates. There are 770,000 adults who smoke in Washington; the majority are from either lower income or lower educational backgrounds. The smoking rate for people with low income is 31 percent; that’s more than three times as high as the 10 percent smoking rate for people with higher income.

“Tobacco use has a very real impact on peoples’ lives — particularly those with fewer resources,” said Secretary of Health Mary Selecky. “People often smoke because it seems like their only break from many of life’s challenges. Over the past year we’ve spent a lot of time talking with and learning from low-income smokers so we can find better ways to provide them the support they need to quit.”

In June the Department of Health launched the multi-media “Dear Me” campaign, featuring people who smoke from around Washington writing a letter to themselves about their struggle to quit. The campaign directs people to the Washington State Tobacco Quit Line (1-800-QUIT-NOW, 1-877-2NO- FUME in Spanish) and Quitline.com (www.Quitline.com) for free quit support.

To accompany the launch of the “Dear Me” campaign, Quitline.com was redesigned. People who visit the site can see the “Dear Me” videos, write their own “Dear Me” letter, and read those of other tobacco users. The site also features videos of quit coaches talking about what happens when people call the quit line and offering quit tips for those not ready to call. Quitline.com also has an interactive quit plan and quizzes designed to test knowledge of the quit process. Information and videos of quit coaches are available in Spanish.

The Department of Health is working to reach people with lower incomes and educational backgrounds through programs like WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) and Head Start. And the Medicaid program provides free quit help to eligible clients, including prescription medications, if appropriate. Washington is also one of the founding partners of the national “Become an Ex” campaign. Led by the American Legacy Foundation, the program targets groups that continue to smoke at higher rates.

People in Washington can receive free quit support by calling the toll-free Tobacco Quit Line. Since the new federal tobacco tax took effect in April, the quit line has had an unprecedented number of calls. Callers speak with a trained quit coach who works with them to identify smoking triggers, provides information about coping with withdrawal symptoms, helps develop a personal plan to quit, and sends a packet of quit materials. More than 125,000 people in Washington have called the quit line for help since it opened for business in November 2000.

Washington is a recognized leader in tobacco prevention and control. Before the tobacco program began, our state had the 20th lowest smoking rate in the nation; now we are ranked sixth. The top 10 states, in order, beginning with the lowest rate are: (1) Utah, (2) California, (3) New Jersey, (4) Maryland, (5) Hawaii, (6) Washington, (7) Arizona, Connecticut (tied), (9) Massachusetts, (10) Oregon.

Source: Washington State Department of Health


Results of Laboratory Study Detecting Previously Unidentified Bioactives in Standardized Turmeric Extract Will Be Published in Upcoming Issue of Current Alzheimer’s Research -

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia among the elderly and is projected to increase in prevalence over the next decades as the population ages — creating an urgent need for treatments that will prevent or reverse the now-inexorable course of cognitive deterioration and memory loss. Because development of synthetic drugs is expensive and complex, many researchers are focusing on botanical extracts whose benefits have been documented by traditional medicine systems. In that vein, scientists with HerbalScience Group LLC, working with researchers from other organizations and medical institutions, conducted an in-depth study of optimized turmeric extracts, demonstrating that key bioactives in the botanical extracts inhibit aggregation and release of amyloid, a protein fragment considered a prime causal suspect in Alzheimer’s disease.

An article detailing the study, titled “Optimized Turmeric Extracts Have Potent Anti-Amyloidogenic Effects,” will be published in the December 2009 issue of Current Alzheimer’s Research, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The authors are affiliated with several research organizations and medical institutions, including HerbalScience Group LLC; the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida; the University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida; Veterans Administration Hospital, Research Service, Tampa, Florida; and Natura Therapeutics, Tampa, Florida.

“The optimized extracts outperformed curcumin, the best studied anti-Alzheimer extract from turmeric,” said Randall S. Alberte, Ph.D., one of the authors of the study and Chief Scientific Officer of HerbalScience Group LLC, a Naples, Florida, and Singapore-based company dedicated to applying advanced science and technology to the production of botanical drugs and nutraceuticals.

For the research, three standardized turmeric extracts were prepared that were enriched in curcuminoids and turmerones, two major classes of compounds present in turmeric. Each of the three proprietary extracts had a different chemical profile and was standardized using advanced extraction technology developed by HerbalScience to create herbal extracts that are dose-reliable and efficacious. The activities of the extracts were compared to standard curcuminoids.

Inhibition of amyloid aggregation and secretion was studied in vitro among the different extracts and standards, and it was found that one of the extracts had the greatest activity in inhibiting the aggregation and secretion of amyloid. This extract, containing the highest levels of curcuminoids among all of the extracts, demonstrated activity that was significantly greater than curcumin alone, the most active of the four curcuminoid standards. This result indicates that an enriched turmeric extract could be just as or more effective than curcumin, the most commonly studied turmeric material for Alzheimer’s disease.

The HerbalScience study also used advanced DART (Direct Analysis in Real Time) Time-of-Flight mass spectrometry technology to generate detailed chemical profiles of each extract in order to determine the key bioactive compounds. Only 5% of the compounds were known chemicals, with the remaining 95% being identified for the first time. With further chemical analysis and identification of key bioactives, highly standardized extracts such as these could offer a rich new source for potential drug discovery for Alzheimer’s and other therapeutic targets.

The journal article detailing the study will appear in the December 2009 issue of Current Alzheimer’s Research (Vol. 6, No. 6). Authors are R. Douglas Shytle, Paula C. Bickford, Kavon Rezai-zadeh, L Hou, Jin Zeng, Jun Tan, and Paul Sanberg, with University of South Florida College of Medicine affiliations including the Department of Neurosurgery Center for Excellence in Aging and Brain Repair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Silver Child Development Center, and Neuroscience Program; Cyndy D. Sanberg of Natura Therapeutics, Inc., Tampa, Florida; Bill Roschek Jr. and Randall S. Alberte, of HerbalScience Group LLC, Naples, Florida; and Ryan C. Fink, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida. Dr. Bickford is also affiliated with the Veterans Administration Hospital, Research Service, Tampa, Florida; and Drs. Shytle, Bickford, Tan, and Paul Sanberg are also affiliated with Natura Therapeutics.

Source: HerbalScience Group


Nurses and retirement security: A looming crisis?

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Sep 5,2009

Nurses appear to be taking far better care of their patients than they are their financial futures, according to a survey released today by the Center for American Nurses and the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER).

The Nurse Investor Education Survey reveals that nurses may be saving for retirement, but few are planning and investing to meet retirement needs. In fact, most nurses say they do not know what those needs will be.

“The good news is that most nurses are putting money away for retirement,” said Wylecia Harris, Executive Director at the Center for American Nurses. “What’s troubling is that less than half have tried to figure out how much income they will need when they get there.” The Center and WISER collaborated on the research as part of the Nurses’ Investor Education Project. The project, funded by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, aims to identify and address the financial information needs of nurses.

The survey, conducted in mid-to-late 2008 with a follow-up survey in early 2009, reveals a lack of confidence among nurses about their future financial security. After the economic crisis hit, confidence eroded even further. Nearly three fourths of respondents in the second survey reported being less optimistic about their financial future compared to how they felt a year prior.

Nurses acknowledged that they do not feel they spend enough time on financial planning for retirement. The most common barriers they cited were:

– Not enough time due to other time-consuming priorities, such as caring for children (61%)
– Not knowing where to begin (59%)
– Not having thought about retirement (36%)
– Not earning enough money to save (34%)

“Only about 6% of the nurses surveyed report feeling very knowledgeable about financial investing,” explained Cindy Hounsell, President of WISER. “But most report wanting to increase their investment knowledge. The Nurses’ Investor Education Program is intended to bring actionable information to them.”

Focus groups held prior to the first survey revealed that nurses tend to distrust “outsiders” when it comes to financial information. But most survey respondents indicated they would attend a free, unbiased financial planning workshop offered by a professional nursing organization.

The Center and WISER are using the survey results and information from the focus group to create retirement planning and investing workshops, webinars, and other resources for nurses. Currently, project activities include training nurses in six states to run group workshops, publishing a quarterly financial planning newsletter for nurses, and producing podcasts on financial planning and investing.

In summing up the goal of the Nurses’ Investor Education Program, John Gannon, President of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation said, “Nurses spend their lives taking care of us. It’s only fitting that this important project helps educate nurses to take care of themselves financially.”

About the survey

A total of 901 nurses in 47 states and Washington, DC, responded to the initial survey. The average age of respondents was 52.5, and 95% were female. Respondents were relatively affluent, with 70% earning $75,000.00 a year or more. The average respondent had been a nurse for 27 years. Most were employed full-time, and 76% had benefits through work. The majority worked day shifts in a variety of work settings. Forty-five percent worked in an organization with more than 1,000 employees. Two survey groups, totaling 1,250 nurses, completed a follow-up survey following the global economic crisis.

Source: Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER)


A medical team at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) has successfully performed the first artificial heart implant in Lebanon, saving the life of a 37-year-old man suffering from terminal heart failure.

Led by two AUB doctors, the six-hour operation, which took place on August 28, 2009, was deemed a success after the patient survived the first critical 72 hours and showed improvements in all his vital signs. The artificial heart implant operation involves the insertion of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) that assumes the functions of the left ventricle of the heart, the dominant chamber which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood via the aorta to the rest of the body.

“The operation was a huge success as it was this patient’s last chance at life,” said Dr. Pierre Sfeir, the AUBMC surgeon who conducted the operation.

“His vital organs are functioning normally and the new device implant is pumping blood properly,” added Dr. Hadi Skouri, the AUBMC cardiologist who has been treating the patient and a specialist on heart failure and transplantation.

The LVAD used in this surgery, the Heartmate II, is manufactured by the US medical technology company, Thoratec.

The two AUB doctors were assisted by a multidisciplinary medical team, including a leading expert on LVAD operations, Dr. Latif Arusoglu, a German surgeon, as well as a clinical specialist, both dispatched by Thoratec.

“90 percent of all cardiac failures are the result of left ventricular failure,” explained Dr. Skouri. When the left ventricle does not function adequately, there are several treatment options available to physicians, he added. As a first step, these patients are placed on a drug therapy that helps the heart pump blood. If that is not successful, patients might undergo a relatively simple operation that involves inserting a pacemaker or other devices that help improve the heart’s pumping function. As a last resort, physicians opt for human heart transplants. Since human heart donors are in short supply, surgeons have previously used the LVAD as a temporary solution, while waiting for a human donor heart.

LVADs have been available to patients since the mid-1990s, but only through an in-hospital procedure. Not all patients are eligible for this expensive and complicated surgery: “If the patient suffers from other serious chronic diseases, we cannot operate,” said Dr. Sfeir, who heads the Division of Cardio-thoracic Surgery at AUBMC.

Dr. Samir Alam, who heads the Cardiology Division, stressed that LVADs are a “last-resort treatment.” “Although we are very excited to offer this new procedure to our patients, we cannot stress enough the complexity of this surgery and the fact that not all cardiac patients are eligible for this implant,” he noted.

“I was facing death when I arrived here,” said the 37-year-old father of four who was operated on at AUBMC. “Merely lifting an arm would knock the wind out of me. I could barely breathe. Now, I have a new lease on life.” He added: “My family is really, really happy. My dad cannot stop smiling.”

Source: American University of Beirut


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