Ohio State researchers found mice housed in large cages with 18 to 22 others, toys and running wheels developed tumors later and had lesions 43 percent smaller than mice in standard cages. The enriched mice also showed a 90 percent drop in leptin.
Rachel Stockton
Nutrition
McDonald's Happy Meal to Blame?
CSPI has filed notice that it may sue McDonald's over the toys in kids' meals, and CEO Jim Skinner has vowed to defend the Happy Meal. The piece quotes Marion Nestle that the marketing undermines parental responsibility, then asks who is really responsible.
Obesity
Weight Loss Surgery: New Option for Diabetics?
A Cleveland Clinic study is testing whether stomach bypass surgery can help more people with type 2 diabetes manage blood sugar without medication. Some formerly morbidly obese patients have come off drugs, which some clinicians attribute partly to disrupted digestive hormones.
Healthcare
Medicare Online Report Card
Hospital Compare, a federal website, pools records from Medicare patients treated at more than 3,600 hospitals and reports general information, quality of care and payment and volume data, including process-of-care measures for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, asthma and surgery.
Cancer
Fish Oil, Breast Cancer and Other Interesting Facts
Among 35,000 postmenopausal women followed six years, taking fish oil four to seven times a week was associated with a 32 percent lower breast cancer risk. Lead author Emily White cautions that the correlation does not prove cause and that more research is needed.
Miscellaneous
TX Man Exemplified Robert Butler's Philosophy
A tribute pairing gerontologist Robert Butler, who died July 4 after battling leukemia, with Pearson Howell, a Texas man who died at 82. Howell rose early, exercised and visited his wife daily despite being paralyzed from the knees down, living the structured life Butler advocated.
Miscellaneous
No BP Relief from Glucosamine
A rundown of low back pain, from bulging discs and sciatica to spinal stenosis and osteoporosis, sets up a look at glucosamine, the dietary supplement many have promoted as a chronic low back pain reliever.
Cancer
OH Woman Knows Value of Breast Cancer Screening
An Ohio woman with a long history of benign breast cysts found a cancerous tumor the size of a tangerine about three months after a negative mammogram. CDC data show screening has leveled off, 81.1 percent in 2008 against 81.5 percent in 2006, lowest among women aged 50 to 59.
Cancer
Roche Seeks Approval for Breast Cancer Drug
Roche has asked the FDA to approve trastuzumab-DM1 for advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, the first conjugated monoclonal antibody the agency will review. Based on Phase II results, a launch could come as early as 2011, with Phase III studies still to run.
Miscellaneous
Does Early School Schedule Promote Failure?
When a Rhode Island high school moved its first class from 8:00 to 8:30 for two months, the 201 students surveyed reported less daytime sleepiness, fatigue and depressed mood. Nearly 80 percent got at least eight hours of sleep, up from under seven before the change.
Lifestyle
100 Years Old and Counting
Boston University researchers built a model from 150 genetic variants that predicted survival into the late 90s and beyond with high accuracy, and identified 19 genetic clusters covering 90 percent of the centenarians studied. They say more work is needed to explain how the variants act together.
Heart & Blood
Does High Fructose Corn Syrup = High Blood Pressure
A cross-sectional analysis of 4,528 US adults with no history of hypertension, drawn from NHANES 2003-2006, found higher fructose intake from added sugar independently associated with higher blood pressure, at an average intake of about two and a half sugary soft drinks a day.
Miscellaneous
Researchers Find Protein Linked to Alzheimer's
A King's College London study found people with Alzheimer's carry higher levels of the blood plasma protein clusterin, which tracked with disease severity, speed of progression and atrophy in the memory region. Researchers hope it could support a simple blood test for early detection.
Lifestyle
Study Shows Link Between Viagara and STDs
Reviewing health claims from 1.4 million men over 40, researchers found the 34,000 prescribed erectile dysfunction drugs were two to three times more likely to have a sexually transmitted disease. The lead author cautions the drugs may not be what drives the link.
Lifestyle
Study Shows Link between Depression and Dementia
Following about 1,000 Framingham Heart Study participants for up to 17 years, University of Massachusetts researchers found depression doubled the risk of dementia and substantially raised Alzheimer's risk. Whether the link is causal or merely associative still needs further research.
Other Diseases
Park Closed due to Infected Squirrel
Officials closed the Los Alamos campground in California's Angeles National Forest for ten days after a squirrel tested positive for plague. The CDC counts 1,000 to 3,000 plague cases worldwide each year, 5 to 15 of them in the western United States.
Lifestyle
Study: Too Much TV Creates Attention Problems
Iowa State researcher Edward Swing followed 1,300 third through fifth graders and 210 college students; those who watched the most television were 1.6 to 2.2 times more likely to show attention problems 13 months later. Pediatrics published the findings.
Food Safety
Fireworks this 4th? Please Handle with Care
Fireworks imports have more than doubled over ten years, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission counted between 8,300 and 10,800 emergency room visits a year for fireworks injuries over the past decade. Safety steps include adult supervision, outdoor use, a hose nearby and soaking duds.
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