Old blood may pose a safety risk

	Packed red blood cells used in blood transfusions can be stored for up to six weeks, according to federal rules. But a new study has renewed questions about whether the blood deteriorates sooner, causing serious problems in some patients.  View related photos
Tim Boyle / Getty Images

updated 5:00 p.m. ET, Wed., March. 19, 2008

Heart surgery patients were more likely to die or suffer problems if they received transfusions of blood that is more than two weeks old rather than fresher blood, according to a new study that adds to the debate about the shelf life of blood.

Although not the final word, the study underscores concerns that blood deteriorates with age and that rules allowing blood to be stored for six weeks may pose a safety risk, at least for certain patients.

The findings bolster the argument of those who believe that older blood should be avoided, wrote Dr. John Adamson of the University of California at San Diego, in an editorial accompanying the study in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

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The Benefits of High Cholesterol

By Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD

People with high cholesterol live the longest. This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance. Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers. Consider the finding of Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University, who reported in 1994 that old people with low cholesterol died twice as often from a heart attack as did old people with a high cholesterol.1 Supporters of the cholesterol campaign consistently ignore his observation, or consider it as a rare exception, produced by chance among a huge number of studies finding the opposite.

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Doctors warn of superbug infection in face-lifts

 

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A dangerous drug-resistant bacterial infection has been showing up in a small number of patients who undergo face-lifts, doctors reported on Monday.

When infections do occur at surgical sites following such procedures "the facial plastic surgeon should have a high suspicion" for MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), as the source, they said.

Dr. Richard Zoumalan of Lennox Hill-Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital in New York and the New York University School of Medicine and Dr. David Rosenberg also of the Lennox Hill center said a review of 780 U.S. face-lift patients from 2001 to 2007 found five -- 0.6 percent -- with infections at incision sites. Four were confirmed as MRSA, all in 2006.

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Is lack of Sleep Killing You???

 

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Popcorn Ingredient Tied to Lung Disease

Reuters

Posted: 2008-03-14 09:35:34

Filed Under: Health News

 

WASHINGTON (March 14) - A chemical used to give butter flavor to popcorn can damage the lungs and airways of mice, U.S. government experts reported on Thursday.

Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Late last year, two makers of microwave popcorn -- ConAgra Foods Inc. and Weaver Popcorn Co. Inc. -- said they would stop using diacetyl in their products after concerns about lung problems were raised. Orville Redenbacher is one of ConAgra's brands.

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Concerns about a chemical in hard plastics make old-fashioned new again

 

	Michelle Palowich, of Amesbury, Mass., looks at Dr. Brown's glass baby bottles at Babies"R"Us, in Peabody, Mass. Dr. Brown's, which has been making a polycarbonate bottle for about a decade, introduced a glass version in early January.  View related photos
Lisa Poole / AP

NEW YORK - Meg Robustelli had heard reports that a chemical in most plastic baby bottles could be dangerous, but she had not done anything about it. That's when her mother stepped in and bought her glass bottles.

"She's an alarmist, but I'm grateful," said Robustelli, whose daughter, Mia, is 14 months old. "I switched because of all the concerns about the plastic."

She made the change about six months ago, becoming one of a relatively small but growing number of parents turning to glass bottles amid concerns over a chemical used to make plastic bottles, bisphenol A.

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10 strategies for a more restful night's sleep

Take a bath, adjust your attitude, darken your room and the rest will follow

	Just 25 percent of Americans get at least eight hours of rest on weekdays, and 60 percent of women say they often sleep poorly, according to the National Sleep Foundation.  View related photos
Getty Images stock

By Ginny Graves

updated 12:50 p.m. ET, Sun., March. 2, 2008

The brown bat sleeps for nearly 20 hours each day. Humans function best on a comparatively thrifty seven to nine, but more and more people are having trouble getting even that. The National Sleep Foundation recently found that just 25 percent of Americans get at least eight hours of rest on weekdays and that 60 percent

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7 ways to boost your metabolism

Trick your body into burning calories more efficiently

By Samantha Heller, M.S., R.D., Health magazine

TODAY

updated 9:56 a.m. ET, Mon., March. 10, 2008

Your basal metabolic rate — the energy your body expends at rest — is generally determined by your genetics, but new research shows you can trick your body into burning calories more efficiently.

HEALTH magazine contributor Samantha Heller offers seven tips that can help boost your metabolism and lead to a stronger, healthier, leaner body.

Here are the best metabolism boosters:

 

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Overdose of Tussionex cough medicine can kill

 

WASHINGTON - U.S. health officials issued an alert on Tuesday about reports of life-threatening side effects and deaths linked to inappropriate use of UCB SA’s prescription cough medicine Tussionex.

The reports indicate doctors sometimes are prescribing, and patients sometimes taking, more than the recommended dose of Tussionex Pennkinetic Extended-Release Suspension, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Some people also are taking the drug more frequently than every 12 hours, the recommended time interval, or giving it to children under age 6, the FDA said. Tussionex is not approved for children younger than 6.

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Gout Risk Linked To Genes

 

A study led by a team of scientists in Scotland suggests that genes may play a part in increasing one's risk of developing gout, a painful condition that affects the joints.

The study is published in the 9 March online issue of Nature Genetics and is the work of researchers based at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, and colleagues from other research centres in the UK and also in Croatia and Germany.

Gout (also called metabolic arthritis) is a painful condition caused when uric acid, a waste product of purine metabolism that in humans and great apes is mostly excreted via the kidneys into urine, deposits in the joints.

In some people the kidneys don't clear all the uric acid from the bloodstream, a condition that is called hyperuricemia.

Some 10 per cent of people with hyperuricemia go on to develop gout, where uric acid is deposited in the joints as monosodium urate crystals, resulting in inflammation and often considerable pain. The condition usually affects the joint of the big toe, but it can also affect fingers, elbows, ankles, knees and other joints.

Causes of gout have often been attributed to diet and lifestyle, with overconsumption of protein, refined sugar and alcohol being the main culprits, but the mystery that has remained is why thousands of people with these lifestyles don't develop gout.

The answer, according to this study, could be genetic. The researchers studied the genes of more than 12,000 people and found that a gene variant may increase or lower the risk of a person developing gout.

The gene variant in question is called SLC2A9, already known to scientists as a transporter of fructose, but in this new study, the researchers, led by Professor Alan Wright of the MRC Human Genetics Unit, found the variant also plays a key role in transporting uric acid.

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