Early Respiratory Infection May Double Type 1 Diabetes Risk: Study

Researchers looked at children who had first-degree relatives with the autoimmune disease

By Serena Gordon

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- What may seem like a harmless cold during the first six months of life may more than double a child's chances of developing antibodies that often lead to type 1 diabetes, new German research suggests.

Infections that occur later don't seem to pose as high as risk. When infants between 6 and 12 months had a respiratory illness, their risk only increased by 32 percent, the study found.

The researchers noted that these findings probably don't apply to all youngsters, because this study was done with children who have a high risk of developing the disease because they have a first-degree relative who has type 1 diabetes.

"In general, the early immune system is still in a phase of development, and may therefore be particularly susceptible for challenges by infectious agents. However, we cannot explain yet why specifically respiratory infections might be relevant in this phase," said study author Andreas Beyerlein, head of the working group on epidemiology at the Institute of Diabetes Research in Munich.

Results of the study were published online July 1 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Infections have long been suspected as potential triggers of type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that causes the body's immune system to mistakenly attack and destroy insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, according to background information in the study. Insulin is a hormone needed to metabolize the carbohydrates in foods so that they can be used as fuel for the body and brain.

Substances called islet autoantibodies appear in the blood before the development of type 1 diabetes, sometimes years before diabetes is evident. These autoantibodies help researchers predict whether or not someone will develop type 1 diabetes.

In the current study, the researchers followed 148 children who were under 3 months old when they started the study. All of the babies had a first-degree relative with type 1 diabetes.

When the children were 3 months old, the parents were asked to complete a detailed questionnaire that included information about their baby's history of infections, fever and medication use. They were asked to detail the types of symptoms their child had. They were also asked about family history of diabetes, and questions about lifestyle factors, such as whether the mother smoked during pregnancy.

Parents were then asked to record information about any illnesses or diseases that occurred until the child was 3 years old. The children also had their blood tested every three months to look for evidence that they had developed islet autoantibodies.

Over the three-year study, there were 1,245 infectious "events." Most -- 669 -- were respiratory infections that affected the upper respiratory tract, including the ear, nose, throat or eye. Infections that affected the digestive system totaled 257, and another 319 cases were classified as "other" infections, such as skin infections.

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iPads Could Affect Implanted Heart Devices, Early Study Finds

Young researcher suggests that users avoid placing tablets too close to the chest

By Barbara Bronson Gray

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- Sprawled out on the couch, reading the news on your iPad, you'd never think you could be putting yourself at risk. But you might be, if you happen to have an implanted heart device.

Magnetic interference could alter the settings and even deactivate the technology of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), according to a small new study -- conducted by a 14-year-old investigator and her colleagues.

The researchers found that magnets imbedded in the iPad 2 and its Smart Cover may cause electromagnetic interference that can disrupt a cardiac rhythm device.

Specialized magnets are imbedded in the heart devices to allow physicians to routinely adjust their settings. The magnets can suspend the ability of the devices to prevent sudden rapid heart rates, such as tachycardia and fibrillation.

That risk occurs when a person falls asleep with the tablet on the chest. Thirty percent of study participants had interference with their devices when the iPad 2 was placed there, the researchers found. Yet electromagnetic interference was not found when the iPad was at a normal reading distance from the chest.

The magnetic field drops off quickly with distance, explained Gianna Chien, the lead study author. And heavier people who happen to have more fat on their chest -- not just in their abdomen -- also seem to be less sensitive to the interference, she added.

The research is scheduled to be presented Thursday at the Heart Rhythm Society's annual meeting in Denver. Chien, a high school freshman, worked with her father, Dr. Walter Chien, a cardiologist with Central Valley Arrhythmia in Stockton, Calif., to coordinate patient testing.

Other devices with imbedded magnets -- such as cellphones and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines -- may also affect cardiac rhythm devices, but were not tested in this study.

Last year, research published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics suggested that the iPad 2 can interfere with the settings of magnetically programmable shunt devices in the brain when held within two inches of the technology.

That study reported on a 4-month-old girl with hydrocephalus -- abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain -- who developed a shunt malfunction. This was due to a changed setting of the magnetically programmable valve that regulates the flow of CSF out of the brain cavity, or ventricle. The mother had been using an iPad 2 while holding the infant.

An expert noted how difficult it could be to detect such a malfunction.

"The real problem is that you don't even know; there is no trigger, no light goes off [to alert you]," said Dr. Salvatore Insinga, a neurosurgeon at the Cushing Neuroscience Institute at North Shore-LIJ Health System, in New York. "With all the tech devices people are using now and all the implanted things in patients, this is more of an issue now." Insinga was not associated with either study.

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Hospitals Enact Policies to Curb Early Childbirth

Goal is to reduce elective C-sections, inductions before 39 weeks, study says

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, May 6 (HealthDay News) -- Hoping to curb elective Cesarean births and labor inductions, two-thirds of U.S. hospitals have implemented policies to eliminate medically unnecessary pre-term births, a new study reports.

Pre-term deliveries (before 39 weeks' gestation) carry an increased risk of neonatal respiratory distress and admission to neonatal intensive care units (NICU), researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine said.

For the study, the researchers questioned nearly 2,400 hospitals about their policies on early deliveries that weren't necessary for medical reasons.

They found that 66.5 percent of the hospitals had a formal policy against the practice, and more than two-thirds of these hospitals had a "hard-stop" policy, or a strictly enforced rule, against elective deliveries before 39 weeks of gestation.

"There is reason to be encouraged that hospital policies are decreasing the frequency of this practice, and we expect that fewer elective deliveries prior to 39 weeks means fewer term babies going to the NICU," study leader Dr. Nathaniel DeNicola said in a news release from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Another one-third of hospitals had no policy on such deliveries, but 53 percent of those hospitals said medically unnecessary deliveries before 39 weeks were against their standard of care.

State initiatives to help inform the public about the risks associated with elective early deliveries have been effective in encouraging hospitals to adopt formal policies against these pre-term deliveries, the study authors added.

"We had a number of hospitals volunteer that they were following the state initiative," DeNicola said.

The findings are scheduled for presentation Monday at the annual clinical meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in New Orleans.

A separate study conducted by researchers from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., showed that by restricting elective deliveries, hospitals can reduce the number of Cesarean births. These policies also can cut the amount of time between when a woman is admitted to the hospital and when she delivers her baby.

"What we used to see here were some providers performing elective inductions in patients, many of whom were fewer than 39 weeks of gestation, with unfavorable cervices," said study leader Dr. Andrew Healy. These inductions could take two or three days, and often ended in a Cesarean delivery, he said.

"We don't see that anymore since implementing a policy restricting elective labor induction, which is terrific," he said. "The mothers are more likely to be able to take their baby home with them and, having had a vaginal birth, are less uncomfortable and better able to care for their child."

For this study, which also will be presented at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists meeting, Healy's team analyzed records of more than 9,500 single births at Baystate before it implemented a policy that set restrictions on labor inductions. The researchers also examined more than 2,600 single births that occurred after the policy was established.

Specifically, the researchers considered time from admission to delivery, Cesarean rates, NICU admission rates and stillbirths.

Average time from hospital admission to delivery for elective inductions decreased by six hours -- from 17 hours to 11 -- after the policy was implemented, the study found. The Cesarean delivery rate for women who underwent elective inductions dropped from 16 percent to 7 percent after the policy was put into place, and the policy resulted in a 33 percent reduction in the admission of term babies to the NICU.

Data and conclusions presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

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Concussion Damage Looks Much Like Early Alzheimer's: Study

Preliminary finding suggests mild brain injury triggers long-lasting abnormalities in white matter

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- Concussion can lead to damage in the white matter of the brain that resembles abnormalities found in people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said their findings should prompt a re-evaluation of the long-term effects of concussion, which affects more than 1.7 million people in the United States annually. About 15 percent of concussion patients suffer persistent neurological symptoms.

"The previous thinking before was you get a concussion, and that causes a certain damage from bopping your head and you get these symptoms," said study author Dr. Saeed Fakhran, an assistant professor of radiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "We found it acts as a kind of trigger, and lights a fuse that causes a neurodegenerative cascade that causes all these symptoms down the line. Once you've hit your head, the injury isn't done."

The findings are published online June 18 in the journal Radiology.

The study drew some criticism from concussion and Alzheimer's disease experts who said the findings, while provocative, should not be interpreted as drawing a clear link between a concussion suffered early in life with the development of Alzheimer's.

"I don't want a mom to pick this up and say, 'Oh my god, my 10-year-old is going to get Alzheimer's now,' because that is not the case," said Dr. Ken Podell, a neuropsychologist and co-director of the Methodist Concussion Center in Houston. "It's very inconclusive at this time, and there's no clinical application of this at this point of time."

White matter serves as the tissue through which messages pass between different areas of gray matter within the brain and spinal cord. Think of gray matter as the individual computers in a network, and white matter as the cables that connect the computer.

The researchers reviewed past brain scans of 64 people who had suffered a concussion, focusing on scans that used an advanced MRI technique called diffusion-tensor imaging, which spots microscopic changes in the brain's white matter.

The investigators then compared these brain scans to symptoms reported by concussed patients in a post-concussion questionnaire. They focused on symptoms shared with Alzheimer's patients, including memory problems, disturbances in sleep cycles and hearing problems.

The results showed a significant correlation between high concussion symptom scores and reduced water movement in the parts of the brain's white matter related to auditory processing and sleep-wake disturbances. Further, the researchers said, the distribution of white matter abnormalities in mildly concussed patients resembled the distribution of abnormalities in people with Alzheimer's disease.

"Basically, it looks a lot like Alzheimer's," said study co-author Dr. Lea Alhilali, an assistant professor of radiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "You get the same distribution of damage in the way that Alzheimer's disease affects the brain."

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Early, Severe Flu Season Caused Big Rise in Child Deaths: CDC

Senior hospitalizations also up during 2012-13 onslaught, U.S. health officials say

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) -- This past flu season started earlier, peaked earlier and led to more adult hospitalizations and child deaths than most flu seasons, U.S. health officials reported Thursday.

At least 149 children died, compared to the usual range of 34 to 123, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The predominant strain of flu circulating in 2012-13 -- H3N2 -- made the illness deadlier for children, explained Lynnette Brammer, an epidemiologist with the CDC.

"With children H3 viruses can be severe, but there was also a lot of influenza B viruses circulating . . . and for kids they can be bad, too," she said.

Dr. Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, added that H3N2 is easily transmitted from person to person and has a high rate of complications, which accounts for the increased hospitalizations.

"This is the kind of flu that enables other infections like pneumonia," he said. "Really what people need to know is that flu isn't the problem. The flu's effect on the immune system and fatigue is the problem."

The flu season started in September, which is unusually early, and peaked at the end of December, which is also unusual, Siegel said.

Flu season typically begins in December and peaks in late January or February.

Texas, New York and Florida had the most reported pediatric deaths. Except for the 2009-10 H1N1 flu pandemic, which killed at least 348 children, the past flu season was the deadliest since the CDC began collecting data on child flu deaths, according to the report, published in the June 14 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Older adults were targeted heavily by the 2012-13 flu. Those aged 65 and older accounted for more than half of all reported flu-associated hospitalizations in the 2012-13 flu season -- the most since the CDC started collecting data on flu hospitalizations in 2005-06, the agency reported.

In addition, more Americans saw a doctor for flu than in recent flu seasons, the CDC noted.

The flu vaccine was well matched to the circulating strains, but less effective than health officials had hoped. In January, the CDC reported that the vaccine was about 60 percent effective, which meant it offered "moderate" protection from the flu.

Siegel said even a moderately effective vaccine is better than not getting vaccinated at all because flu symptoms will be milder, with a lower chance of complications.

According to Brammer, decisions about the vaccine for this coming season were made in February so manufacturers could make a sufficient supply for fall. The makeup will be basically the same as the 2012-13 vaccine with some tweaks to some of the strains so they better match changes in the viruses, she said.

The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older get vaccinated. The agency urges people at higher risk for severe disease -- including young children, pregnant women, anyone with a chronic health problem and the elderly -- to get the vaccine.

Don't make any assumptions about the course of next season's flu based on the recent past, these experts added.

"I wouldn't assume next year's flu season is going to be milder or that it's going to be early," Siegel said. "The flu is unpredictable."

Because the 2012-13 flu season started several months earlier than usual, the CDC also advised doctors to consider influenza as the source of respiratory illnesses that occur beyond the typical flu window.

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Scientists Find New Clues to Early Onset Alzheimer's

Too much plaque-building protein produced in people with certain genes, study finds

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- People with genetic mutations that lead to inherited, early onset Alzheimer's disease overproduce a longer, stickier form of amyloid beta, the protein fragment that clumps into plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, a small new study has found.

Researchers found that these people make about 20 percent more of a type of amyloid beta -- amyloid beta 42 -- than family members who do not carry the Alzheimer's mutation, according to research published in the June 12 edition of Science Translational Medicine.

Further, researchers Rachel Potter at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and colleagues found that amyloid beta 42 disappears from cerebrospinal fluid much more quickly than other known forms of amyloid beta, possibly because it is being deposited on plaques in the brain.

Alzheimer's researchers have long believed that brain plaques created by amyloid beta cause the memory loss and thought impairment that comes with the disease.

This new study does not prove that amyloid plaques cause Alzheimer's, but it does provide more evidence regarding the way the disease develops and will guide future research into diagnosis and treatment, said Dr. Judy Willis, a neurologist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Neurology.

The mutation occurs in the presenilin gene and has previously been linked to increased production of amyloid beta 42 over amyloid beta 38 and 40, the other types of amyloid beta found in cerebrospinal fluid, the study said.

Earlier studies of the human brain after death and using animal research have suggested that amyloid beta 42 is the most important contributor to Alzheimer's.

The new study confirms that connection and also quantifies overproduction of amyloid beta 42 in living human brains. The investigators also found that amyloid beta 42 is exchanged and recycled in the body, slowing its exit from the brain.

"The amyloid protein buildup has been hypothesized to correlate with the symptoms of Alzheimer's by causing neuronal damage, but we do not know what causes the abnormalities of amyloid overproduction and decreased removal," Willis said.

The findings from the new study "are supportive of abnormal turnover of amyloid occurring in people with the genetic mutation decades before the onset of their symptoms," she said.

Researchers conducted the study by comparing 11 carriers of mutated presenilin genes with family members who do not have the mutation. They used advanced scanning technology that can "tag" and then track newly created proteins in the body. With this technology, they tracked the production and clearance of amyloid beta 40 and 42 in the participants' cerebrospinal fluid.

This research gives clinicians a potential "marker" to check when evaluating the Alzheimer's risk of a person with this genetic mutation, Willis said.

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Cartilage Gives Early Warning of Arthritis, Study Finds

Damage to the tissue that cushions joints occurs even before people feel pain, research shows

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, April 2 (HealthDay News) -- Exercise-related damage in cartilage can help identify people with the earliest stages of osteoarthritis, a new study reveals.

The findings could improve early detection of the painful joint disease and could also be used to improve methods of repairing damaged cartilage, said study senior author Alan Grodzinsky, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and colleagues.

For the study, the researchers developed a method that identifies osteoarthritis-related changes that occur in cartilage in response to high-load activities such as running and jumping.

Cartilage is firm, rubbery tissue that cushions bones and keeps them from rubbing together. When osteoarthritis begins to develop, the ability of cartilage to resist physical-activity-related impact is reduced. This is now known to be due to the loss of molecules called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs).

Using their new system, the researchers found that GAG-depleted cartilage loses its ability to stiffen under the forces of high-load activities. GAG loss also caused an increase in the depletion of fluids from the cartilage, which likely reduces protection against the impact of high-load activities.

The findings show how GAG loss at the earliest disease stages reduces the ability of this tissue to withstand high-load activities, according to the study, which was published in the April 2 issue of the Biophysical Journal.

"This finding suggests that people with early degradation of cartilage, even before such changes would be felt as pain, should be careful of dynamic activities such as running or jumping," Grodzinsky said in a journal news release.

Osteoarthritis affects about one-third of older adults and is the most common type of joint disorder.

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New Kind of Therapy Shows Early Promise in MS Patients

Approach may shield patients' immune systems to allow safer treatment, study suggests

By Brenda Goodman

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- A new therapy for multiple sclerosis that teaches the body to recognize and then ignore its own nerve tissue appears to be safe and well-tolerated in humans, a small new study shows.

If larger studies prove the technique can slow or stop the disease, the therapy would be a completely new way to treat autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and type 1 diabetes.

Most treatments for MS and other autoimmune diseases work by broadly suppressing immune function, leaving patients vulnerable to infections and cancers.

The new treatment targets only the proteins that come under attack when the immune system fails to recognize them as a normal part of the body. By creating tolerance to only a select few proteins, researchers hope they will be able to cure the disease but leave the rest of the body's defenses on guard.

"This is important work," said Dr. Lawrence Steinman, a professor of neurology at Stanford University who was not involved with the study.

"Very few investigators are trying therapies in humans aimed at simply turning off unwanted immune responses and leaving the rest of the immune system intact to fight infections -- to do surveillance against cancer," Steinman said. "The early results show encouragement."

For the study, published in the June 5 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers in the United States and Germany recruited nine patients with MS. Seven had the relapsing-remitting form of the disease, while two others had secondary progressive MS (a more advanced phase). All were between the ages of 18 and 55, and were in good health except for their MS.

Blood tests conducted before the treatments showed that each patient had an immune reaction against at least one of seven myelin proteins.

Myelin is a white tissue made of fats and proteins that wraps nerve fibers, allowing them to conduct electrical signals through the body. In MS, the body attacks and gradually destroys these myelin sheaths. The damage disrupts nerve signals and leads to myriad symptoms, including numbness, tingling, weakness, loss of balance and disrupted muscle coordination.

Six patients in the study had low disease activity, while three others had a history of more active disease. Most were not experiencing symptoms at the time of their treatment.

On the day of the treatments, patients spent about two hours hooked up to a machine that filtered their blood, harvesting white cells while returning red cells and plasma to the body.

After the white cells were collected, they were washed and then combined with seven proteins that make up myelin tissue. A chemical was used to link the proteins to the white blood cells, which were dying.

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'Sensory-Focused' Autism Therapy Shows Early Promise

In small study, parents used variety of methods to stimulate boys' senses

By Mary Brophy Marcus

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- Smelling essential oils, walking across textured surfaces, immersing hands in warm water -- these are just some of the therapeutic experiences that boys with autism had while participating in a small new study.

The scientists wanted to learn how "sensory-motor" therapy compared to traditional behavioral therapy methods in boys with autism.

Twenty-eight boys aged 3 to 12 and their parents participated in the six-month-long study, published online May 20 in Behavioral Neuroscience. The boys were split into two groups. Both groups of children participated in daily behavioral therapy, but 13 of the boys also received environmental enrichment, another term for sensory-motor therapy.

The environmental enrichment therapy had a significant positive effect on these children with autism, the study authors said.

"What we've done here for the first time is give humans a sensory-enriched environment and found out that a neurological disorder -- autism -- responds favorably. We saw a 600 percent greater likelihood of having a positive clinical outcome in individuals that had enriched environments compared to those receiving the standard care that children have been receiving for autism up to this point," said study author Michael Leon, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at Center for Autism Research and Treatment at the University of California, Irvine.

However, an autism expert who wasn't part of the study cautioned that other sensory-based therapies showing early promise haven't proven effective so far.

For the new study, parents of the children in the sensory enrichment group were given a kit that contained a broad range of materials aimed at stimulating their child's senses of smell, temperature, texture, sight and movement. Vials of essential oils scented of apple, lavender, sweet orange and vanilla, were among the items. Squares of different textured materials included smooth foam, hardwood flooring, sponges, felt and sandpaper.

The children were also given the opportunity to play with objects: beads, a small piggy bank with plastic coins, pictures of famous art, a can of Play-Doh, a bowl to hold warm or cool water and more.

The researchers asked parents to conduct two therapy sessions a day with their child, and to run four to seven different exercises during each session that involved different combinations of the items in the kit. Sessions ranged from 15 to 30 minutes. The children also listened to classical music once a day.

As the six-month period progressed, parents were encouraged to offer more complex enrichment exercises. For example, a child would be given the chance to select a textured square and in addition to feeling it would be encouraged to match it to another square of the same material.

By the end of the six months, Leon said the enrichment group children had significantly improved compared to the children who received standard therapy alone. He said 42 percent of the boys in the enrichment group improved in their ability to relate to other people and in their ability to respond to sights and sounds, compared with 7 percent of the standard care group.

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Scientists ID Gene Behind Early Onset Puberty

Discovery could help children with 'central precocious puberty,' give insights to development

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists say they've identified a gene mutation behind a condition that causes children to undergo puberty before the age of 9.

The condition, known as central precocious puberty, appears to be inherited via a gene passed along by fathers, say researchers reporting online June 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Besides helping children with central precocious puberty, "these findings will open the door for a new understanding of what controls the timing of puberty" generally, co-senior study author Dr. Ursula Kaiser, chief of the endocrinology, diabetes and hypertension division at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said in a hospital news release.

According to the authors, the mutation leads to the start of puberty before age 8 in girls and before age 9 in boys. That's earlier than the typical onset of puberty, which begins in girls between ages 8 and 13 and in boys between ages 9 and 14.

The study included genetic analyses of 40 people from 15 families with a history of early puberty. In five of the 15 families, the researchers discovered four mutations in the MKRN3 gene. A mutation in the MKRN3 gene can lead to premature activation of reproductive hormones and trigger early puberty, the study authors explained in the news release.

All of the people with the MKRN3 mutations inherited them from their fathers.

One expert who reviewed the research said the finding should be a great advance for children with central precocious puberty.

Testing children for the MKRN3 mutation "may help in the diagnosis, preventing the use of extensive testing and procedures such as MRI of the head," explained Dr. Patricia Vuguin, pediatric endocrinologist at Steven & Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York, in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

She said better diagnostic tests would help spot patients at risk for early puberty and problems that often accompany it, such as short stature, psychological issues and other possible health issues. More generally, "the diagnosis will also help understand the role of this gene and other associated genes on how and when kids go into puberty, an area that is currently not clear," Vuguin said.

The findings will also be presented June 17 at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting.

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Blood Test Might Spot Pancreatic Cancer Early, Study Finds

Title: Blood Test Might Spot Pancreatic Cancer Early, Study Finds
Category: Health News
Created: 3/29/2013 10:35:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 3/29/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Blood Test Might Spot Pancreatic Cancer Early, Study Finds

But not early enough to make a big difference in survival rates, an expert says

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- A new blood test that detects deadly pancreatic cancer earlier than usual might slightly improve patients' odds for survival, a small Japanese study suggests.

"This new diagnostic test may be a safe and easy screening method that could improve the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer through earlier detection," said lead researcher Dr. Masaru Yoshida, an associate professor in the division of metabolomics research at Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine. "A drop of blood contains a lot of information."

Currently, the 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is less than 5 percent, largely because the cancer usually has spread by the time it is detected.

The new approach relies on metabolomics technology, an emerging science that focuses on small molecules. The blood test measures byproducts of metabolism, called metabolites, found in the blood.

By looking for differences between the levels of metabolites in patients with and without pancreatic cancer, the researchers are able to identify those with cancer.

Finding pancreatic cancer earlier means more patients can have the tumor removed and live longer than most patients do now, Yoshida noted.

"Conventional tests using blood or imaging are not appropriate for pancreatic cancer screening and early detection, so new screening and diagnostic methods for pancreatic cancer are urgently required," Yoshida said.

Currently, in more than 80 percent of cases of pancreatic cancer, the cancer has metastasized, or spread, making it inoperable, he explained.

One expert doesn't think this test is a breakthrough.

"It's an improvement, but not a breakthrough," said Dr. James D'Olimpio, director of supportive oncology at North Shore-LIJ Cancer Institute in Lake Success, N.Y.

"The problem is it's not early enough," he said.

Even if the cancerous tumor can be removed, it's usually too late, he said. By the time the cancer is detected, even in the early stage suggested by their test, the cancer has most likely spread beyond the pancreas, D'Olimpio pointed out.

"The test is able to detect cancer when it is at stage 1, but it's a fatal disease once it gets past stage 0," D'Olimpio said. (Staging, which refers to the severity of a person's cancer, usually runs from 0 to 4.)

"The cure rates of these patients is still going to be less than 20 percent," he said.

For the study, published online March 29 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, the researchers used a technology called gas chromatography mass spectrometry to analyze the blood from study participants.

The researchers randomly assigned 43 pancreatic cancer patients and 42 healthy participants to what they called a training set, where they made their initial findings. To validate their findings, they also tried the test on 42 patients with pancreatic cancer, 41 healthy people and 23 people with chronic pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).

The researchers found 18 metabolites that were significantly different in patients with pancreatic cancer, compared with the healthy patients.

They refined their test using four metabolites to identify patients with pancreatic cancer.

The test had a sensitivity of 71.4 percent and a specificity of 78.1 percent when it was used with patients with pancreatic cancer and patients with chronic pancreatitis, the researchers reported. Sensitivity measures the accuracy of the test in identifying people with pancreatic cancer and specificity measures the accuracy of the test in weeding out those who didn't have the disease. Chronic pancreatitis is sometimes mistaken for cancer, so cutting down false positives is important.

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Early Thinking Problems May Signal Future Dementia in Parkinson's Patients

Title: Early Thinking Problems May Signal Future Dementia in Parkinson's Patients
Category: Health News
Created: 3/25/2013 4:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 3/26/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Genes and Early Wheezing Tied to Childhood Asthma Risk

Common cold symptom increased odds for asthma in study

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 27 (HealthDay News) -- Certain genetic factors and wheezing early in life are associated with a greatly increased risk of asthma in children, a new study says.

Researchers examined data from nearly 500 children and found that about 90 percent of those who had two copies of a common genetic variation and who also experienced wheezing when they had a cold early in life developed asthma by age 6.

These children, all from families with a history of asthma or allergies, were nearly four times more likely to develop asthma than those who did not have the genetic variation and did not wheeze, according the study in the March 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The genetic variation is found on chromosome 17 and is common. Half of the children in the study had one copy and 25 percent had two copies. The researchers also noted that colds are extremely common and affect nearly all infants.

The increased risk is associated with wheezing during colds caused by a human rhinovirus infection, the University of Chicago Medical Center researchers said.

"We found that the interaction between this specific wheezing illness and a gene or genes on a region of chromosome 17 determines childhood asthma risk," study author Carole Ober, a professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, said in a medical center news release. "The combination of genetic predisposition and the child's response to this infection has a huge effect."

The researchers said it is not clear how this gene variation and wheezing interact to increase the risk of developing asthma. It also should be noted that the research showed only an association between them, and not a cause-and-effect relationship.

About 25 percent of children who had no wheezing from a human rhinovirus infection developed asthma, and 40 percent of those who experienced wheezing in the first three years of life but lacked the risk-related gene variants developed asthma.

That rose to nearly 60 percent among those with one copy of the gene variant and to 90 percent for those with two copies.

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Four in 10 Babies Given Solid Foods Too Early, Study Finds

Title: Four in 10 Babies Given Solid Foods Too Early, Study Finds
Category: Health News
Created: 3/25/2013 10:35:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 3/25/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Immune Therapy Shows Early Promise for Advanced Leukemia

Title: Immune Therapy Shows Early Promise for Advanced Leukemia
Category: Health News
Created: 3/20/2013 4:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 3/21/2013 12:00:00 AM

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iPads Could Affect Implanted Heart Devices, Early Study Finds

Young researcher suggests that users avoid placing tablets too close to the chest

By Barbara Bronson Gray

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- Sprawled out on the couch, reading the news on your iPad, you'd never think you could be putting yourself at risk. But you might be, if you happen to have an implanted heart device.

Magnetic interference could alter the settings and even deactivate the technology of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), according to a small new study -- conducted by a 14-year-old investigator and her colleagues.

The researchers found that magnets imbedded in the iPad 2 and its Smart Cover may cause electromagnetic interference that can disrupt a cardiac rhythm device.

Specialized magnets are imbedded in the heart devices to allow physicians to routinely adjust their settings. The magnets can suspend the ability of the devices to prevent sudden rapid heart rates, such as tachycardia and fibrillation.

That risk occurs when a person falls asleep with the tablet on the chest. Thirty percent of study participants had interference with their devices when the iPad 2 was placed there, the researchers found. Yet electromagnetic interference was not found when the iPad was at a normal reading distance from the chest.

The magnetic field drops off quickly with distance, explained Gianna Chien, the lead study author. And heavier people who happen to have more fat on their chest -- not just in their abdomen -- also seem to be less sensitive to the interference, she added.

The research is scheduled to be presented Thursday at the Heart Rhythm Society's annual meeting in Denver. Chien, a high school freshman, worked with her father, Dr. Walter Chien, a cardiologist with Central Valley Arrhythmia in Stockton, Calif., to coordinate patient testing.

Other devices with imbedded magnets -- such as cellphones and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines -- may also affect cardiac rhythm devices, but were not tested in this study.

Last year, research published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics suggested that the iPad 2 can interfere with the settings of magnetically programmable shunt devices in the brain when held within two inches of the technology.

That study reported on a 4-month-old girl with hydrocephalus -- abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain -- who developed a shunt malfunction. This was due to a changed setting of the magnetically programmable valve that regulates the flow of CSF out of the brain cavity, or ventricle. The mother had been using an iPad 2 while holding the infant.

An expert noted how difficult it could be to detect such a malfunction.

"The real problem is that you don't even know; there is no trigger, no light goes off [to alert you]," said Dr. Salvatore Insinga, a neurosurgeon at the Cushing Neuroscience Institute at North Shore-LIJ Health System, in New York. "With all the tech devices people are using now and all the implanted things in patients, this is more of an issue now." Insinga was not associated with either study.

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Study Supports Using Low-Dose CT Scans to Spot Early Lung Cancer

But expert notes questions about frequency remain

By Barbara Bronson Gray

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Finding early signs of lung cancer was once next to impossible, but a new study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that screening with low-dose CT scans may help spot the beginnings of disease in high-risk patients.

Among patients considered at the greatest risk for lung cancer, 6 percent were found to have lung cancer after getting CT scans and follow-up biopsies to confirm the diagnosis. CT scans detect abnormalities at an earlier stage than standard X-rays, potentially giving patients a head start on lifesaving treatment.

As more advanced technology reduces the radiation risk of computerized tomography (CT) scans, the benefits of such screening could become greater than the downsides, which also include potentially unnecessary biopsies.

"It may someday be like using mammograms," said Dr. Stephen Machnicki, associate chair of radiology at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City.

The study affirmed what a lot of radiologists believe: There is a role for low-dose CT in screening for lung cancer, said Machnicki, who was not involved with the research.

The study, scheduled for presentation Tuesday at the American Thoracic Society annual meeting in Philadelphia, was based in part on results from the National Lung Screening Trial. That study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011, included more than 53,000 heavy smokers and found that those who received low-dose CT scans had a 20 percent lower risk of death from lung cancer than people who had standard chest X-rays.

Lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, usually forms in the cells lining air passages of the lungs. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, more than 228,000 new cases of lung cancer and almost 160,000 associated deaths are anticipated this year.

The researchers enrolled 84 patients between 61 and 65 years old. Participants had either a smoking history of more than 30 pack-years, or 20 pack-years and one additional risk factor, such as occupational exposure to cancer-causing substances or a personal or family history of cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A pack-year represents the number of cigarettes smoked over time; 30 pack years is the equivalent of a pack a day over 30 years or two packs a day over 15 years.

Each study participant got a low-dose CT scan, which was reviewed for the presence of nodules or other abnormalities that could suggest cancer. Those with nodules of 4 millimeters or larger or opacities (cloudy areas of tissue) were advised to get a biopsy.

Four people had lung cancer confirmed by biopsy, and one had a large mass but refused biopsy, reported study author Sue Yoon, a nurse practitioner in the pulmonary division at the Veterans Administration Boston Healthcare System.

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Processed Meat May Play a Part in Early Death: Study

It found those who ate the most increased their risk of dying prematurely by 44 percent

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 6 (HealthDay News) -- Grilled hot dogs and sausages may be tasty treats at ball games and picnics, but a new study of nearly 450,000 people finds that eating too much processed meat might shave years off your life.

Those who ate the most processed meat increased their risk of dying early by 44 percent. In broader terms, if people ate less processed meat, the number of premature deaths overall would drop by almost 3 percent, Swiss researchers reported.

"Our recommendation is to limit processed meat intake to less than an ounce a day," said study author Sabine Rohrmann, head of the division of cancer epidemiology and prevention at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Zurich.

The researchers could only show an association between eating processed meat and an increased risk of dying early, and not a cause-and-effect link. There are, however, some reasons to believe the association may be real, the scientists said.

"We know of some potential mechanisms that probably all contribute," Rohrmann said. "Meat is rich in cholesterol and saturated fat, which may be the link with coronary heart disease."

Processed meat is also treated with nitrates to improve durability, color and taste. "However, it also causes the formation of carcinogens. These are linked to the risk of colorectal and stomach cancer," Rohrmann said.

In addition, high iron intake from meat may lead to an increased risk for cancer, she said.

Another expert noted that previous research supports the link between processed meat and health problems.

"A wide array of studies have linked meat intake to higher rates of chronic disease," said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Conn.

Eating relatively more meat likely means eating fewer plant foods, which protect against chronic disease, he said.

"The case for us eating mostly plants is strong," Katz said. "But those inclined can eat meat without harming their health, provided they choose wisely and steer clear of bologna."

For the study, which was published online March 6 in the journal BMC Medicine, Rohrmann and an international team of investigators collected data on nearly 450,000 men and women. At the start of the study, none of the participants had had cancer, a heart attack or stroke. The researchers also collected data on diet, smoking, exercise and weight.

By the middle of 2009, more than 26,000 of those in the study had died.

"Mortality is increased when we compare those participants who eat more than 40 grams per day of processed meat to those who have 10 to 20 grams per day," Rohrmann said.

The higher the consumption, the higher the risk. "For the highest consumption group (those who consume at least 160 grams of processed meat per day) mortality was 44 percent higher compared with those who eat little meat (10 to 20 grams a day)," she said.

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Gene Therapy Shows Early Promise for Heart Failure

By Amy Norton

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Feb. 21 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to treating heart failure, the ultimate hope is to develop a therapy that repairs the damaged heart muscle.

Now, an early study hints at a way to do that by harnessing the body's natural capacity for repair.

Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition where the heart cannot pump blood efficiently enough to meet the body's needs, which leads to problems like fatigue, breathlessness and swelling in the legs and feet. Most often, it arises after a heart attack leaves heart muscle damaged and scarred.

In the new study, researchers were able to use gene therapy to modestly improve symptoms in 17 patients with stage III heart failure -- where the disease is advanced enough that even routine daily tasks become difficult.

What is novel about the tactic, the researchers said, is that the gene therapy is designed to attract the body's own stem cells to the part of the heart muscle that's damaged. The hope is that the stem cells will then get some repair work done.

The findings, published Feb. 21 in the journal Circulation Research, are preliminary, and much more research needs to be done.

"This is a proof-of-concept study," explained lead researcher Dr. Marc Penn, a professor at Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown, and director of research at Summa Cardiovascular Institute in Akron. But Penn and other heart failure experts said they were cautiously optimistic about the therapy's potential for at least some patients.

Stem cells are primitive cells that can develop into different types of body tissue. Adults have the cells in their bone marrow, and they give rise to blood cells. Researchers have also found that individual organs in the body, including the heart, have their own pools of stem cells.

Those stem cells may try to repair damaged tissue, but they are not all that successful, Penn said. So his team sought to give the stem cells a helping hand. They infused patients' heart muscle with three different doses of a drug that carried a gene for SDF-1, a natural protein in the body believed to recruit stem cells to sites of tissue damage.

Lab research has suggested that after a heart attack, SDF-1 activity in the heart goes up -- but only for a short time, Penn said. The goal of the experimental therapy is to enhance SDF-1 and draw more stem cells to where they are needed.

The initial results are promising, Penn said. The approach seemed safe, with no major side effects linked to the treatment. Two of the study patients died within a year, but the deaths were deemed not to be connected to the treatment.

Among the 15 patients who were alive one year later, there were improvements in their symptoms and walking ability.

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