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We’re still debating whether this man actually sleeps or if he is in fact some sort of sun repelling vampireContinue reading...
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Dave Grohl at the Sundance Film Festival 2013
We’re still debating whether this man actually sleeps or if he is in fact some sort of sun repelling vampireContinue reading...
Flu Deaths 'Unpredictable'
CDC: Yearly Flu Death Toll Ranges from 3,000 to 50,000
Aug. 26, 2010 – U.S. deaths from flu range from about 3,000 to about 50,000 per year, the CDC now calculates.
The new numbers come from analysis of the last 31 flu seasons by CDC medical officer David Shay, MD, MPH and colleagues.For years, the CDC has been estimating the annual flu toll at about 36,000 flu-related deaths per year. But that average came from the years 1990-1999.
The H3N2 type A flu bug dominated eight of those nine flu seasons -- and the Shay study finds that H3N2 seasons are nearly three times as deadly as H1N1 type A or type B seasons.
So how many people really die of flu in an average flu season?
"There are very few average seasons," Shay said at a news teleconference. "That is one reason why CDC is trying to move away from a single number and move to a range over a period of time to give a better prediction of what flu means to a community."
What this really means is that the CDC wants out of the flu prediction business. For example, there's no way to say whether the approaching 2010-2011 flu season will be mild or severe.
It could be like the 1986-1987 season, with only 3,349 deaths. It could be like the 2003-2004 season, with 48,614 deaths. Shay says there's no way to predict.
Even if the season starts out with a rash of H3N2 illness, he says, there's just no way to tell whether the milder flu bugs will come on strong later in the season.
And the type of flu bug isn't the only factor. Some flu seasons are shorter than others, so fewer people get sick and fewer die. During some flu seasons, a lot of elderly people get sick. Since about 90% of flu deaths are in the elderly, more people would die.
"Flu deaths are a moving target," Shay said. "Among vaccine-preventable diseases, there is not another one that has this kind of moving target."
Over the 31 seasons analyzed in the Shay study, the average annual number of deaths due to flu-related causes was 23,607. But Shay warns against using this as a benchmark.
"A simple average fails to give the impact of flu," Shay says.
Only one thing about flu is predictable. If you get the annual flu shot -- now recommended for everyone who does not have a medical reason to avoid it -- your odds of getting the flu are dramatically lower.
Moreover, if you're vaccinated, you're far less likely to infect someone who might come down with severe disease, possibly adding to the year's flu death toll.
The Shay study appears in the Aug. 27 issue of the CDC's MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Alesha Dixon at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions
Alesha Dixon wears a pink and green printed jumpsuit and blush pink jacket to the London Britain’s Got Talent auditions - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
Peter Sarsgaard at Sundance Film Festival
We spotted a very beardy Peter Sarsgaard strolling through the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City yesterday. The star was fresh from a photoshoot with Amanda Seyfried and Adam Brody, promoting new flick, Lovelace – a biopic on notorious porn star Linda Lovelace. Continue reading...
Jenna Dewan on the street in LA
Pregnant actress Jenna Dewan-Tatum wears an Aztec printed cardigan over her gymwear - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
Hearing Loss Linked to Mental Decline in Elderly
Jan. 22, 2013 -- Hearing loss and mental decline are two common conditions of aging, and now a new study finds that they may be related.
Older people with hearing deficits were more likely than those with normal hearing to develop problems with memory and thinking over the course of the study.
On average, the study participants with hearing issues had significant mental impairments three years earlier than those without them.
About two-thirds of adults over the age of 70 have some degree of hearing loss.
And the number of people with dementia is projected to double over the next two decades as the population ages.
The researchers now hope to study whether hearing aids can slow mental decline in the elderly.
Otologist and epidemiologist Frank R. Lin, MD, PhD, led the study. He says only about 15% of people who need hearing aids get them. Lin is an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
“Our findings emphasize just how important it is for physicians to discuss hearing with their patients and to be proactive in addressing any hearing declines over time,” he says.
The investigation included close to 2,000 men and women in their 70s and 80s who took part in an aging and health study that began in the late 1990s.
Hearing was tested in year five of the study, and the men and women underwent a series of tests over the next six years to assess declines in memory and thinking.
The men and women with hearing loss showed evidence of these declines 30% to 40% faster than the people with normal hearing. And those people with more hearing loss had steeper declines in mental function.
The study was published online in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
While it did not address how age-related hearing loss may worsen problems with memory or thinking, Lin says there are several theories.
One theory is that the social isolation common among people with untreated hearing loss leads to mental decline. Previous research has identified loneliness as a risk factor for such decline, he says.
Another theory is the idea that the working memory is limited with respect to the amount of information it can hold and the operations it can perform.
“The job of the inner ear is to take in sounds and encode them with accurate fidelity before the signal goes to the brain for decoding, but with hearing loss the brain has a very hard time doing that,” Lin says. “If the brain constantly has to expend more resources to decode sound, this may come at a cognitive cost.”
Neurologist and Alzheimer’s researcher Marc L. Gordon, MD, calls the research compelling, but he says more studies are needed to confirm that hearing loss has a direct impact on mental decline and to understand the reasons for the link.
He adds that the study emphasizes the importance of addressing not just hearing loss but also vision loss in the elderly.
“This reinforces the notion that evaluating and treating these sensory impairments may be even more important for an aging person’s overall well-being than we have known,” he says.
The DOs & DON’Ts of colouring mixed race hair
Got gorgeous mixed heritage locks but need some advice on working the current colour trends? Errol Douglas’ colour master Jasmin Allen gives us her DOs & DON’Ts of colouring for ‘mixed chick chic’. Continue reading...
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