Will New Gout Findings Get a Toehold?

Flare-ups most likely if condition starts in joints such as knee or elbow, researchers say

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- The big toe is not the biggest culprit in gout flare-ups, contrary to popular belief, a new study reports.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found that people with the highest risk of repeated cases of gout are those whose gout first appears in other joints, such as the knee or elbow, rather than in the joints of the big toe.

Gout is a painful form of arthritis caused by uric acid buildup in the body. Continuing to take medication is essential to prevent recurrences, the researchers said.

"Because patients often think that a gout flare-up means their medications are not working, they may stop medications like allopurinol. It is especially important for these patients to continue taking gout medication to prevent flare-ups," study co-author Dr. Eric Matteson, rheumatology chair, said in a Mayo news release.

The study was scheduled for presentation at the annual meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism, June 12 to 15, in Madrid.

Researchers followed 46 gout patients for about 13 years on average. Their first gout attack occurred at an average age of 66.

Mayo researchers presented other studies at the meeting. Among those findings:

Black American lupus patients with certain autoantibodies (anti-RNA-binding protein autoantibodies) have higher levels of interferon, a protein involved in inflammation. The finding may explain why black Americans have worse lupus than whites and could lead to improved treatments, the researchers say.Rheumatoid arthritis patients have greater changes in their systolic blood pressure (the top number of a blood pressure measurement) from one health care visit to another than people without the disease. That erratic blood pressure was linked to heart disease, which means that doctors need to closely manage heart disease risk in these patients.Another study may help explain why smoking doubles the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. In people with a genetic predisposition to a particular immune response, smoking triggers immune cells called dendritic cells, the researchers found. Unlike osteoarthritis, which is related to wear and tear, rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder, meaning the body attacks its own cells.

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

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Kate Hudson and son Bing in New York

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Uma Thurman at the HRC Marriage For Equality celebration

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Cheat days

I have just started losing weight and really have a long way to go (over 100 lbs) but I am taking it in chunks of 10 lb goals. The question I have a someone who is only in their 2nd week of trying to learn how to do this is: Can you have cheat days when you have just started and is it safe to do?

I have heard of people losing weight and taking 1 cheat day a week and having good success but I don't know if it should be done when starting out. Also, what would be a safe calorie count on a cheat day if one can be taken.

Thank you all.

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Leigh Lezark at a Kiehl's launch

After the major DON'T we spotted Leigh Lezark in yesterday, it's nice to see the DJ back to her stylish self in this 90s grunge outfit.  

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Dads Who Bond With Kids Help Keep Marriage Strong

Sharing housework also key, study found, as is open communication with spouse

By Barbara Bronson Gray

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) -- For dads aiming at marital bliss, a new study suggests just two factors are especially important: being engaged with the kids, for sure -- but also doing a fair share of the household chores.

In other words, just taking the children outside for a game of catch won't cut it.

"In our study, the wives thought father involvement with the kids and participation in household work are all inter-related and worked together to improve marital quality," said Adam Galovan, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Missouri, in Columbia. "They think being a good father involves more than just doing things involved in the care of children."

Galovan found that wives feel more cared for when husbands are involved with their children, yet helping out with the day-to-day responsibilities of running the household also matters.

But Galovan was surprised to find that how husbands and wives specifically divide the work doesn't seem to matter much. Husbands and wives are happier when they share parenting and household responsibilities, but the chores don't have to be divided equally, according to the study. What matters is that both parents are actively participating in both chores and child-rearing.

Doing household chores and being engaged with the children seem to be important ways for husbands to connect with their wives, and that connection is related to better relationships, Galovan explained.

The research was recently published in the Journal of Family Issues.

For the study, the researchers tapped data from a 2005 study that pulled marriage licenses of couples married for less than one year from the Utah Department of Health. Researchers looked at every third or fourth marriage license over a six-month period.

From that data, Galovan surveyed 160 couples between 21 and 55 years old who were in a first marriage. The majority of participants -- 73 percent -- were between 25 and 30 years old. Almost 97 percent were white. Of participants, 98 percent of the husbands and 16 percent of the wives reported they were employed full time, while 24 percent worked part time. The average couple had been married for about five years, and the average income of the participants was between $50,000 and $60,000 a year.

Couples indicated which spouse was generally responsible for completing 20 common household tasks -- or if both or neither of them were responsible. Fathers rated their involvement in their children's lives and mothers noted how involved they felt their husbands were with the kids. Both spouses rated how happy they were with how they divided household tasks and with their marriage.

Men and women differed in how they reported marital quality. For wives, the father-child relationship and father involvement was most important, followed by satisfaction with how the household work was accomplished.

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Seriously Stressed? Hair Analysis Tells All, Study Finds

WEDNESDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) -- Hair analysis can reveal if seniors have elevated stress hormone levels that may put them at increased risk for heart disease and stroke, a new study suggests.

Unlike a blood test that provides information about stress hormone levels at a single point in time, analysis of a strand of hair can reveal trends in levels of the stress hormone cortisol over several months, according to the researchers.

The study, published April 17 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, found that seniors with higher long-term levels of cortisol were more likely to have heart disease.

"Like high blood pressure or abdominal fat, the findings suggest elevated cortisol levels are an important signal that an individual is at risk of cardiovascular disease," study co-lead author Dr. Laura Manenschijn, of Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, said in a news release from the Endocrine Society.

"Because scalp hair can capture information about how cortisol levels have changed over time, hair analysis gives us a better tool for evaluating that risk," she explained.

The researchers analyzed 1.2-inch samples of hair from the heads of 283 people, aged 65 to 85, and determined the participants' cortisol levels over the previous three months.

The team found that people with high cortisol levels were more likely to have a history of coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease and diabetes.

"The data showed a clear link between chronically elevated cortisol levels and cardiovascular disease," the other lead author, Dr. Elisabeth van Rossum, of Erasmus Medical Center, said in the news release. "Additional studies are needed to explore the role of long-term cortisol measurement as a cardiovascular disease predictor and how it can be used to inform new treatment or prevention strategies," she said.

The research suggested a link between stress hormone levels and heart risks. It didn't prove cause-and-effect.

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: The Endocrine Society, news release, April 17, 2013

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