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Study gets
vocal about VOCs
PERTH —
In scouring the house to rid it of dust and other asthma
triggers, parents may be contributing to the problem
— thanks to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in
cleaning supplies. A study in the September issue of
Thorax shows that, compared to 104 healthy controls,
88 asthmatics (aged six months to three years) were
exposed to higher levels of VOCs. With every extra 10
ug/m3 of VOCs in the air, the risk of asthma jumped
two to three times. Apart from cleaning products, VOCs
are also found in paint and cigarette smoke, among other
things.
Shedding
light on cancer spike
LONDON —
Could bright nights be causing the rise in childhood
leukemia? A group of Texan researchers presented findings
to that effect at the First International Scientific
Conference on Childhood Leukemia in London. They found
links between increased light at night (LAN) and shift
work — which disrupts the body's internal clock
— and increased levels of breast and colorectal
cancer, and extrapolated the findings to explain the
rise in childhood leukemia. This adds to the heap of
blame already laid on ionizing radiation, electromagnetic
fields and chemicals for the 50% rise in the illness
since the 1950s.
Canada's
exotic drug cartel
WINNIPEG —
Canadian internet pharmacies are widening their drug-procuring
net in order to keep shelves stocked for their precious
US clientele. After pharma companies started withholding
supplies to enforce their cease-and-desist mandate,
internet Rx peddlers turned to countries like the UK,
Fiji, Israel and Chile for their drugs. The practice
has some folks down south worried about the quality
of drugs being sold to them because some of the second
and third world dealers don't have the same drug standards
as we. A spokesperson from the Canadian International
Pharmacy Association has given assurances that Fiji
and Chile are "very small players."
Reaching
the Finnish line
HELSINKI —
Finnish researchers just ended a 10-year-long study
on the longterm effects of statins. Their work was published
August 28 in The Lancet. Coronary heart disease
patients were treated with simvastatin or a placebo
for an average of 5.4 years. By the 10.4 year follow-up,
414 treated patients had died versus 468 controls. Moreover,
statins did not increase the risk of cancer.
Playing
the numbers game
WEST HAVEN, CT
— 150/95: two little numbers that make the
heart beat faster. Or at least they'll get patients
treated for hypertension under current guidelines, which
state that systolic blood pressure (SBP) over 140mmHg
and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) over 90mmHg merit
therapy. However, a new re-examination of 1,064 previous
studies suggests that a raise in SBP to over 160mmHg
warrants treatment in seniors, regardless of their DBP.
The results are published in the September 1 edition
of JAMA.
A
treatment to drool over
NIJMEGEN, THE
NETHERLANDS — A study in the September issue
of Pediatrics compares the effects of an injection
of Botox and a scopolamine patch for motion sickness
in helping stop the constant drooling experienced by
kids with cerebral palsy. Researchers looked at 45 children
and found that 49% and 53% responded to Botox and scopolamine,
respectively. But the youngsters on scopolamine had
more serious side effects than those on Botox, which
caused only minor side effects, like mild difficulty
swallowing.
Don't
take away my mammogram
HELSINKI —
Common wisdom tells us it doesn't matter what road you
take, as long as you get there in the end. Research
in the September 1 issue of JAMA leads us to
believe otherwise when it comes to breast cancer detection.
A 10-year followup of 1,918 Finnish women diagnosed
with breast cancer, proved that those whose tumours
were detected by mammography had smaller tumours, fewer
markers of cancer risk and an overall better prognosis
those whose tumours had been otherwise discovered.
Glucocorticoid
study cuts to the bone
PHILADELPHIA —
Despite the grown-up clothes they wear, children it
seems are made of different stuff than adults. And a
study in the August 26 issue of the New England Journal
of Medicine confirms this. Glucocorticoids cause
bone loss in adults and was thought to do so in children
too, because steroid-treated kids are fracture-prone.
However, a comparison of 60 glucocorticoid-treated children
with 195 controls revealed no differences in bone mineral
density. The fractures in such kids are likely due to
their heftier builds, not fragile bones.
Broccoli
and blankets: strange bedfellows
HONG KONG —
A study of 10,902 10-year-olds in China finds that using
a cotton quilt and eating raw fruit and vegetables were
both protective against asthma. Risk factors, on the
other hand, included cooking with gas, foam pillows,
damp housing and living in smoggy Hong Kong. The research,
published August 28 in the British Medical Journal,
says diet and environmental factors may help explain
geographical variation in asthma rates.
Back
to school fashion: lice hairnets
MENLO PARK, CA
— The new school year is upon us and with
early mornings, packed lunches and homework comes the
inevitable parental bane: head lice. For parents tired
of the fine-toothed comb approach, here's some good
news. The September issue of Pediatrics reports
that a doc in California has developed a new treatment
to nix the nits. His invention, Nuvo lotion, is massaged
into wet hair and then blown dry to form an invisible
saran-wrap style airtight film that completely covers
the hair. Eight hours later the lice should have suffocated
and died.
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