HIV No Barrier to Getting Liver Transplant, Study Finds

Procedure recommended to treat aggressive liver cancer

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Liver transplants to treat a common type of liver cancer are a viable option for people infected with HIV, according to new research.

The Italian study, published May 10 in the journal The Oncologist, found that the AIDS-causing virus doesn't affect survival rates and cancer recurrence after transplants among HIV patients with this particular type of liver cancer, called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study's authors noted, however, that HCC is more aggressive in people with HIV and it is becoming a major cause of death among these patients as antiretroviral treatment prolongs their lives.

"The key message of this study is that liver transplantation is a valid option for HCC treatment in HIV-infected patients," the study's authors wrote in a journal news release. "We suggest that HIV-infected patients must be offered the same liver transplant options for HCC treatment currently provided to HIV-uninfected subjects."

The study involved 30 HIV-positive patients and 125 patients not infected with HIV who received a liver transplant to treat HCC at three different hospitals in northern Italy between 2004 and 2009.

During a follow-up period of roughly 32 months, the researchers found a recurrence of HCC in 6.7 percent of the patients with HIV and 14.4 percent of the patients who were not HIV positive.

The study also revealed that survival was similar for all of the patients one year after surgery and three years post-surgery.

The researchers, led by Dr. Fabrizio Di Benedetto, associate professor of surgery at the University of Modena, said the HIV-positive patients were treated with antiretroviral therapy until they underwent the transplant. The therapy was not resumed until their liver function stabilized after surgery.

None of the HIV-positive patients developed AIDS during the post-surgery follow-up period. The study's authors suggested that this may be due to timely resumption of HIV therapy following the liver transplant.

New options in antiviral therapy for people with HIV could improve control of the HIV virus as well as outcomes following liver transplant for HCC, the researchers said.

Patients with HIV undergoing liver transplant for HCC would benefit most from a multidisciplinary approach to care, the study authors said, which would involve collaboration among oncologists, radiologists, gastroenterologists, liver surgeons and infectious disease specialists.

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Getting frustrated!!!!

Hey all,

I'm new to this forum but I really need some advice.  For the past 3 months I've been dieting and working out at the gym. I go 4-5 days a week and do 35-40 min of cardio and 15-25 min high repition/low weight lifting.  I've been using "My Fitness Pal" app to track my eating and am trying to hit around 1500-1800 calories a day, sometimes I'm under, sometimes I meet it.  I am 35, 5'10, 250-255lbs (started at 270lbs), and while I'm seeing my clothes fitting better I'm not seeing the scale drop ANYTHING.  Yes I lost the initial weight but I feel like I'm at a stand still and last night I weighed myself and it seems like I've gained weight.  I've tried taking Safflower Seed pills to help with my metabolism, which is probably dead after eating whatever I wanted and drinking Diet Mt Dew for years, but I just feel at a ledge and I don't know what to do.  I'm working my ass off but it's LITERALLY still there.  Any advice would help, should I see a doctor, do I need to cut down on my calories? Thank you.

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getting enough calories to preserve muscle?!

I've been eating 1500-1600 calories for a few weeks now, have lost weight but I don't want to lose any muscle I've gained from training. I'm on a low carb diet most days (no more than 50g) from mostly vegetables, protein is high and fats are about 49g. I'm wondering if this Is a sufficient enough eating plan to lose fat, not muscle?

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Need help getting motivated again

Hey cc!

I always enjoy reading the forums and all of your helpful advice AND now I need help.

I whole year ago I was really committed to counting calories and not going over my cc burn (1700 calories). I exercised often and felt great. However, lately I have been sabotaging my healthy eating efforts. It's almost as if my willpower has disappeared. I have been overeating, snacking at night, and indulging in treats. Or on days that I seem to eat healthy, I have been snacking out night because I see friends and family snacking. Everyday I seem to have an excess of calories and I am slowly putting on weight. I want to nip this in the bud before it gets worse.

Have any of you temporarily fallen off of the wagon? How did you find the inner strength to get back on track? Any advice or tips?

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Been eating healthy and exercising...feel like I'm getting bigger???

So...I have been eating approx. 1200 calories while doing high intensity workouts 4-5 times a week. I feel like I'm getting bigger D: Well, actually I know I am because my jeans are getting snug. I want to get leaner/smaller not bigger! lol what should I do? I've been doing Jillian Michaels Killer Buns & Thighs and P90x.

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Getting dizzy

I am 212 lb and I just started cutting calories. Nothing drastic but may be 200 300 calories per day. I got so dizzy this morning when I woke up that I had to gulp up ready sugar foods and then I started feeling better. I had a 800 calorie dinner last night around 7 :30 PM. I had a carb high diet all these days. Could this be beacuse of that ? Any suggetions or how to avoid this ? Thanx in advance.

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Fewer Kids Getting Hurt in Most Sports, Study Finds

However, football and soccer injuries have risen over past decade

By Carina Storrs

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- Football has been blamed for a growing number of injuries among young players in the past decade, but a new study finds that football is an exception, and injuries from most other popular sports have dropped in children.

The study compared the number of injuries in children aged between 5 and 14 that occurred in 2000, 2005 and 2010 based on a national survey of the emergency rooms of about 100 hospitals.

It focused on eight popular activities: football, basketball, baseball/softball, soccer, bicycling, roller sports such as skating, playground use and trampoline use.

The study is scheduled for presentation Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, in Chicago.

"Physicians and children's hospitals have reported an increase in injuries from pediatric sports and the number of surgeries on kids [but] there was no population-based study to see if there is a real increase," said study author Dr. Shital Parikh, an associate professor of pediatric surgery at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Parikh's analysis suggests that the number of acute injuries, in particular sprains and fractures, has declined over the past decade. The study does not, however, address trends in chronic wear-and-tear damage and injuries that require surgery, such as a torn ligament, and these types of injuries have probably increased, he said.

The study found a more than 13 percent decrease in the rate of injuries seen in emergency rooms between 2000 and 2005 but only a roughly 1 percent decrease between 2000 and 2010.

The rebound in the number of injuries in 2010 appears to be due largely to an increase in the injuries related to football, baseball/softball and soccer between 2005 and 2010.

Looking at the population using U.S. Census Bureau data, Parikh found that for every 1,000 children, 31.9 sustained an injury in 2000 whereas 27.6 and 31.6 did so in 2005 and 2010, respectively.

The biggest drop in injury rate was for bicycling, which saw a more than 29 percent decrease between 2000 and 2005 and a 38 percent decrease overall. During this decade, the sport went from the most dangerous to the second most dangerous.

There were also drops in roller-sport and trampoline injuries of nearly 21 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively, between 2000 and 2010, and to a lesser extent, fewer injuries related to basketball.

Football injury rates, however, shot up by nearly 23 percent between 2000 and 2010, and soccer injuries rose by almost 11 percent.

Muscle and skeletal injuries, such as fractures, sprains and bruises from football and soccer rose by about 24 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Rates of these injuries declined for the other sports, except for baseball and softball, which saw a 2.5 percent increase.

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HIV No Barrier to Getting Liver Transplant, Study Finds

Procedure recommended to treat aggressive liver cancer

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Liver transplants to treat a common type of liver cancer are a viable option for people infected with HIV, according to new research.

The Italian study, published May 10 in the journal The Oncologist, found that the AIDS-causing virus doesn't affect survival rates and cancer recurrence after transplants among HIV patients with this particular type of liver cancer, called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study's authors noted, however, that HCC is more aggressive in people with HIV and it is becoming a major cause of death among these patients as antiretroviral treatment prolongs their lives.

"The key message of this study is that liver transplantation is a valid option for HCC treatment in HIV-infected patients," the study's authors wrote in a journal news release. "We suggest that HIV-infected patients must be offered the same liver transplant options for HCC treatment currently provided to HIV-uninfected subjects."

The study involved 30 HIV-positive patients and 125 patients not infected with HIV who received a liver transplant to treat HCC at three different hospitals in northern Italy between 2004 and 2009.

During a follow-up period of roughly 32 months, the researchers found a recurrence of HCC in 6.7 percent of the patients with HIV and 14.4 percent of the patients who were not HIV positive.

The study also revealed that survival was similar for all of the patients one year after surgery and three years post-surgery.

The researchers, led by Dr. Fabrizio Di Benedetto, associate professor of surgery at the University of Modena, said the HIV-positive patients were treated with antiretroviral therapy until they underwent the transplant. The therapy was not resumed until their liver function stabilized after surgery.

None of the HIV-positive patients developed AIDS during the post-surgery follow-up period. The study's authors suggested that this may be due to timely resumption of HIV therapy following the liver transplant.

New options in antiviral therapy for people with HIV could improve control of the HIV virus as well as outcomes following liver transplant for HCC, the researchers said.

Patients with HIV undergoing liver transplant for HCC would benefit most from a multidisciplinary approach to care, the study authors said, which would involve collaboration among oncologists, radiologists, gastroenterologists, liver surgeons and infectious disease specialists.

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Does my frequent yawning mean my brain isn’t getting enough oxygen?

Posted May 13, 2013, 2:00 am

DEAR DOCTOR K: I yawn a lot. My friend said this is a sign my brain isn’t getting enough oxygen. Is that true?

DEAR READER: Most of us yawn more often in the early morning and late evening. Does it mean you’re tired? Bored? Not getting enough oxygen? It turns out that we actually know very little about why we yawn.

When I was in medical school, one of my teachers speculated that yawning was a response to low oxygen or high carbon-dioxide levels. That theory was fairly common. It was also plausible: When we open our mouths and take in a deep breath, we take oxygen into the body and expel carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is waste produced by the body’s cells and needs to be eliminated.

Unfortunately, the theory that yawning reflects low oxygen or high carbon dioxide levels isn’t true. Yawning occurs even when oxygen and carbon dioxide levels are normal. And research has shown that volunteers do not yawn less after being exposed to high oxygen levels, and do not yawn more after being exposed to high levels of carbon dioxide.

Another myth is that yawning always indicates a need for sleep. It is true that people often yawn as they are ready to retire for the night. But we also yawn when we get up in the morning and at other times during the day. Yawning appears to depend on a variety of factors such as arousal level, distraction, and even seeing someone else yawn.

Here are some reasonable explanations I’ve heard for yawning (though none has been proven):

The lungs are full of tiny little air sacs. Not all of them are filled with air. If an air sac remains without air, it can collapse. When you yawn, you take in more air than with a normal breath. That opens up tiny airways and prevents them from collapsing. This could explain why yawning seems to occur when your breathing is shallow, such as when you’re tired or bored.Yawning is associated with stretching of the muscles and joints and an increased heart rate. So it may serve as a preparation for an increased level of alertness, especially after a period of relaxation.Yawning could provide nonverbal communication to others that it is time to relax.

Finally, yawning may be a sign of disease. Although rarely the first sign, excessive yawning has been observed among people with multiple sclerosis, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and Parkinson’s disease. I say this with trepidation. Please don’t misunderstand: Yawning is not a sign that you have one of these terrible diseases. It is just a sign that you’re human.

In fact, we humans are in good company. All mammals and many other animals yawn. Why does a lion yawn? A penguin? We can’t answer that question any better for them than for us.

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Blizzard 2013: Preparation & Getting Through It

Feb. 7, 2013 --The major blizzard predicted to hit the Northeast and New England on Friday may dump as much as 2 feet of snow from New York City to Maine, the National Weather Service predicts. Winds may gust to 75 miles per hour.

If history repeats, major power outages, treacherous roads, and downed power lines are expected.

WebMD reached out to emergency experts and public health officials for information on blizzard preparation and getting through the blizzard safely.

Q: What should I do now to prepare?

Food and Water: Gather extra food and water. Get high-energy foods such as dried fruits, granola bars, and nuts, as well as food products that do not need to be cooked or refrigerated.

Get bottled water. Store it in a place you can get to easily.

Medications: Assemble medications you need on a daily basis. Put them in a backpack or easy-to-carry kit in case you need to evacuate.

Power: Have flashlights and fresh batteries available and other battery-powered items, such as radios, ready to use if the power fails.

Other: Update your list of emergency contacts.

If weather permits, go to the hardware or home improvement store for supplies, such as fresh batteries or a roof rake if you do not have one. A roof rake is designed to remove heavy snowfall from roofs and comes with a long extension. It could possibly keep you from climbing onto the roof.

Get an ice melting product to apply to slippery sidewalks.

Q: Do I need to take any precautions before shoveling snow?

Consider your heart health before deciding. The risk of a heart attack while snow shoveling may rise for some, especially those with existing heart disease, a history of stroke, or those in poor physical condition.

If you are at risk, let someone else do it.

If you can't find anyone, take precautions. Take frequent breaks. Don't eat a heavy meal right before or right after shoveling. Don't drink alcohol right before or right after shoveling. Use a small shovel.

Q: How do I prevent hypothermia/frostbite? What are the signs of frostbite?

Dress as warmly as possible. Know that it can come on quickly.  Recognize the first symptoms, such as a white or pale appearance in the toes, fingers, ear lobes, or the tip of the nose.

If you suspect frostbite, get medical help right away. Get to a warm area right away and remove any wet clothing. If that is not possible right away, warm the affected areas using body heat, such as by placing frostbitten fingers in your underarm.

If you are showing signs of a dangerously low body temperature, known as hypothermia -- shivering uncontrollably, slurring speech, having memory loss -- your body core (not arms and legs) should be warmed first. Get medical help ASAP.

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Blizzard 2013: Preparation and Getting Through It

Title: Blizzard 2013: Preparation and Getting Through It
Category: Health News
Created: 2/8/2013 11:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 2/8/2013 12:00:00 AM

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