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| Health Myths: 7 Medical Misconceptions Exposed!

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Health Myths: 7 Medical Misconceptions Exposed ~ Corrie Pikul, 

These are the myths and misconceptions that drive doctors crazy (and could affect your health). Let’s clear them up — once and for all.

1. Makeup with SPF is just as good as sunscreen.

Women tend to be (justifiably) wary of caking on makeup, but this means they rarely put on the amount of sunscreen-enhanced foundation, tinted-moisturizer or lipstick required to protect their skin from the sun, explains Justin Piasecki, MD, a plastic surgeon and the founder of the Skin Cancer Center in Gig Harbor, Washington. They also neglect to reapply the products every two to three hours, which is the amount of time Piasecki says it takes for any sunscreen to wear or rub off, and for the sun’s UV rays to deactivate its protective ability. This is why makeup with SPF can be 14 times less effective than sunscreen. Piasecki says that at least one-third of skin cancers occur above the neck, so he recommends wearing sunscreen with UVA/UVB protection under your makeup every day and carrying a travel-size sunscreen in your purse so you can reapply it when you’re outside.

2. Drinking milk will make your runny nose worse.

“I have patients who swear that milk makes them produce more mucous,” saysJennifer Collins, MD, an assistant professor and a physician specializing in allergy, asthma and immunology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. However, she hasn’t been able to find any good research to support that — and neither have other doctors. In fact, when Australian researchers went so far as to collect and weigh the nasal secretions of 60 volunteers inoculated with the common-cold virus, they foundno association between milk intake and mucous production. Scientists think that drinking milk may remind some people of the consistency of mucous or may coat their throat in a way that makes them think they’re feeling more phlegm. Collins notes that drinking milk fortified with vitamin D can help boost your energy, spur cell growth and help keep your immune system working optimally. Those who are firmly anti-milk (for whatever reason) can get their vitamin D from fish like swordfish, salmon and tuna, or from fortified orange juice or cereal.

3. A sprinkle of talcum powder a day will keep moisture away.

Baby powder (or scented talcum powder) can be easily inhaled into the lungs and, worse, has been linked to cancer. Harvard researchers recently found that postmenopausal women who use talcum powder in their genital area just once a week increase their risk of developing endometrial cancerby 24 percent. Another Harvard study found a strong link between talcum powder use and ovarian cancer (it can increase the risk of developing the cancer by up to 40 percent). In general, family doctors have stopped recommending that women use talcum powder to absorb wetness. Stick to preventative measures like wearing breathable cotton underwear and rinsing regularly with warm water.

4. Topical antibiotics should be your go-to for minor cuts and wounds.

Many of us automatically reach for neomycin (one of the active ingredients in ointments like Neosporin) whenever we have a cut or scrape. But constantly exposing the skin to neomycin can lead to an allergic reaction over time, says Reid Blackwelder, MD, a professor of family medicine at East Tennessee State University who sits on the board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “People will then use the ointment and assume the resulting redness comes from the wound, when it’s actually the neomycin affecting their skin.” Some studies have also suggested the widespread use of OTC ointments with neomycin, polymyxin or bacitracin may contribute to the development of resistant bacteria, says Blackwelder. For minor wounds like hangnails, shaving cuts and paring-knife nicks, he suggests using soap and water to clean and disinfect the area. If you think the area is infected, talk to your doctor.

5. Vaccines can cause developmental disorders in children.

This remains a hotly debated issue, despite being debunked in multiple large studies. And now the United Kingdom is dealing with a serious outbreak of measles partly as a result of the large number of children who were not inoculated against the diseaseduring the MMR vaccine scare of the early 2000s. Measles, mumps and rubella are still relatively uncommon in the United States, but there has been an uptick in recent years. The United Kingdom has launched a massive, expensive catch-up campaign to quickly vaccinate as many children as possible, and our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to stress the importance of making sure that you and the children in your life are vaccinated.

6. Eating a lot of carrots can save your failing vision.

Vitamin A is essential for good vision – no one’s refuting that — but you only need a small amount. One half-cup of raw carrots will provide you with 184 percent of the recommended daily value. An excessive amount of beta carotene, the compound in carrots that’s converted to vitamin A, can not only make your skin turn orange, but studies show it has also been associated with an increased risk of lung cancer in some people. So enjoy the crudité, but if you worry that your eyesight is failing, make an appointment with an optometrist or an eye doctor.

7. You can catch a cold from not bundling up in cold weather.

Not necessarily, Collins says. Viruses do tend to be more active in cold weather, but a down coat won’t protect you if you’re run-down and haven’t been taking care of yourself. She says that you can catch a cold from staying inside in cold weather, especially if there are lots of other people around. Here’s why: When it gets chilly outside, we tend to crowd indoors and crank up the heat. Collins explains that this causes the mucous membranes inside our nose to become dry and cracked, making us even more vulnerable to germs being passed around by family members, friends and coworkers. Collins adds that regularly exercising outdoors has a protective effect on our immunity, even when the weather outside is frightful. Just be sure to wear the right layers: Dress as if it’s 10 degrees warmer than it is (you’ll feel chilly to start, and comfortable after about five to ten minutes of moderate intensity).

As a reminder, always consult your doctor for medical advice and treatment before starting any program.

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| Breast Cancer + Double Mastectomy: My Medical Choice!

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My Medical Choice ~ ANGELINA JOLIE, NYT.

MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.

We often speak of “Mommy’s mommy,” and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me. I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a “faulty” gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer andovarian cancer.

My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.

Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average.

Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.

On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work.

But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.

My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a “nipple delay,” which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area. This causes some pain and a lot of bruising, but it increases the chance of saving the nipple.

Two weeks later I had the major surgery, where the breast tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place. The operation can take eight hours. You wake up with drain tubes and expanders in your breasts. It does feel like a scene out of a science-fiction film. But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life.

Nine weeks later, the final surgery is completed with the reconstruction of the breasts with an implant. There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years, and the results can be beautiful.

I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.

It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that’s it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as long as I can. On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.

I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.

For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.

I acknowledge that there are many wonderful holistic doctors working on alternatives to surgery. My own regimen will be posted in due course on the Web site of the Pink Lotus Breast Center. I hope that this will be helpful to other women.

Breast cancer alone kills some 458,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization, mainly in low- and middle-income countries. It has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment, whatever their means and background, wherever they live. The cost of testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, at more than $3,000 in the United States, remains an obstacle for many women.

I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options.

Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.

 

Angelina Jolie is an actress and director.

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Early signs of breast cancer.

Early signs of breast cancer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Breast Cancer Research and Treatment

Breast Cancer Research and Treatment (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

| MRI II: The revolutionary new scanner that can spot cancer in SECONDS!

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The revolutionary new scanner that can spot cancer in SECONDS ~ JAMES RUSH, The Mail.

  • Improved version of MRI could detect life-threatening diseases when they are at their most treatable
  • Uses mathematical formulas to figure out in a matter of seconds if a patient has anything to worry about
  • Uses unique fingerprints of each individual body tissue and disease to quickly diagnose problems

A new scanner can spot the earliest stages of life-threatening diseases including cancers in seconds, researchers say.

The early detection could see the disease picked up when they are at their most treatable.

The device is an improved version of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) which is currently used by doctors to pick up tumours, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and other illnesses.

At present the amount of detail that can be probed is limited but MRF (magnetic resonance fingerprinting) can collect a vast amount of information in one measurement.

It uses mathematical formulas called pattern-recognition algorithms to figure out in a few seconds if a patient has anything to worry about.

Each body tissue and disease has a unique fingerprint that can be used to quickly diagnose problems, say the scientists.

By using their technology to look for different physical properties simultaneously they differentiated white and grey matter from cerebrospinal fluid in the brain in about 12 seconds.

They promise to do this much quicker in the near future and believe an MRI scan will be standard procedure in annual check-ups.

A full-body scan lasting only minutes would provide far more information and require no radiologist to interpret the data, making diagnostics cheap.

Professor Mark Griswold, a radiologist at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, in Ohio, said: ‘The overall goal is to specifically identify individual tissues and diseases, to hopefully see things and quantify things before they become a problem.

‘But to try to get there we’ve had to give up everything we knew about the MRI and start over.’

MRI is a radiology technique which uses magnets, radio waves and a computer to produce a range of images of the body’s tissues and structures.

Treatable: The early detection could see diseases picked up when they are at their most treatable. Pictured is a human cancer cellTreatable: The early detection could see diseases picked up when they are at their most treatable. Pictured is a human cancer cell

MRF can obtain much more information with each measurement than a traditional MRI. Prof Griswold, who spent three years developing it, likens the difference to a pair of choirs.

He said: ‘In the traditional MRI everyone is singing the same song and you can tell who is singing louder, who is off-pitch, who is singing softer. But that’s about it.’

Information: According to the scientists, the amount of detail which can be probed from an MRI scan (pictured) is limited, but MRF can collect a vast amount of inforamtion in one measurementInformation: According to the scientists, the amount of detail which can be probed from an MRI scan (pictured) is limited, but MRF can collect a vast amount of inforamtion in one measurement

The louder, softer and off-pitch singing is represented by dark, light or bright spots in the scan a radiologist must interpret.

For example an MRI would show swelling as a bright area in an image. But brightness doesn’t necessarily equate with severity or cause.

Prof Griswold said: ‘With an MRF we hope with one step we can tell the severity and exactly what’s happening in that area.’

The fingerprint of each tissue, disease and material inside the body is therefore a different song.

In an MRF each member of the choir sings a different song simultaneously.

Prof Griswold, whose machine is described in the journal Nature, said:

‘What it sounds like in total is a randomised mess.’

Other researchers have tried to use multiple parameters in MRI’s but this group was able to scan fast and with higher sensitivity than in previous attempts.

Prof Griswold said: ‘This research gives us hope. We can see it’s possible the MRI can see all sorts of things.’

The group expects to reduce scanning time and continue to build the songbook – or library of fingerprints – over the next few years.
Scan: An improved version of MRI can spot the earliest stages of life-threatening diseases, researchers have said. Pictured is a doctor helping a patient with an MRI scan

Scan: An improved version of MRI can spot the earliest stages of life-threatening diseases, researchers have said. Pictured is a doctor helping a patient with an MRI scan

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| Ad brainwash: 15 biggest LIES ever told by major advertisers!

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The 15 Biggest Lies Ever Told By Major Advertisers ~ Laura Stampler,  Business Insider,

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As if you didn’t know …
Ads brainwash you into becoming non-thinking consumers!

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Kim Kardashian Sketchers Shape-Ups Ad Super Bowl XLV

Zappos

Advertising doesn’t have a reputation for being the most honest profession. 

While most people know that banner ads from companies you’ve never heard of that promise to melt away “20 pounds in a week, no exercise required!” should be taken with a grain of salt, some huge and highly respected brands are also guilty of telling their consumers major lies to make sales.

You’d have to be pretty dumb to believe some of them. Skechers once claimed that by simply putting on a pair of their shoes you’d magically get buns of steel. Others  went so far as to cite fake studies to prove their false selling points.

Here are the 15 biggest offenders.

15. That Dr. Koch’s Cure All cured all.

Starting in 1919, Dr William Frederick Koch created a medication with a drug that he claimed could cure “all human ills, including tuberculosis” and cancer.

But when doctors tested the drug in 1948, doctors found that glyoxylide, the drug in question, contained little more than distilled water. Koch treated cancer patients, many of whom died, primarily with the drug.

Although the FDA was vocal in their disgust with Koch, they couldn’t find enough evidence to press charges. Koch ended up fleeing to Rio de Janeiro in the late ’40s.

 

14. That Classmates.com will find your classmates.

Before there was Facebook, people were chomping at the bit to sign up for Classmates.com and contact their old high school friends and flames. The site eventually introduced a “Gold” membership, which allowed members to email their old friends.

Anthony Michaels was lured into the Gold membership after Classmates.com sent him an email saying that an old friend was trying to contact him. That turned out to be a marketing ploy, so Michaels filed a class action lawsuit for false advertising.

Classmates.com ended up paying $9.5 million — $3 per subscriber — in 2010.

13. That Airborne cures colds.

Airborne — marketed as “the one designed by a school teacher” — got failing grades when it became public that there were no studies supporting its claims to kill germs and bacteria that caused flues and colds.

“It was so bad,” David Schardt, a senior nutritionist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told NPR.

In fact, Airborne had as much effect on a cold as a placebo or a Vitamin C pill.

Airborne had to pay $23.3 million in a class-action lawsuit.

12. That certain pills are “scientifically proven” to increase the size of a certain part of the male body.

Both Extenze and Enzyte falsely promised to give men a “big new swing of confidence.”

Extenze ended up paying a $6 million settlement in 2010, and Enzyte’s Steve Warshak was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he over-billed his customers.

11. That L’Oreal’s face cream will make you look as good as Photoshop can.

11. That L'Oreal's face cream will make you look as good as Photoshop can.

The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority banned this ad for being “misleadingly exaggerated” due to excessive photoshopping.

The same goes for this Julia Roberts Lancome ad.

The same goes for this Julia Roberts Lancome ad.

Lancome

And Twiggy’s spot for Olay.

And Twiggy's spot for Olay.

Olay

11. That electric shocks cure AIDS and cancer.

Dr. Clark’s Zapper made a series of ridiculous claims that its supposed parasite-killing zapper could cure cancer and AIDS.

Hulda Clark’s book, “The Cure for all Cancers,” states: “All cancers are alike. They are all caused by a parasite. A single parasite! It is the human intestinal fluke. And if you kill this parasite, the cancer stops immediately.”

The Swiss-based company agreed to pay U.S. citizens refunds in 2004, and the director of enforcement at the FDA called the device “fraudulent.”

10. That gas is cleaner if it’s “crystal clear.”

Amoco launched a multi-million dollar campaign in the ’90s claiming that its gas was more environmentally friendly because it was “crystal clear” rather than a murky brown.

According to Mental Floss, ”at the time the country was going through a clear revolution.” Even Pepsi made a clear drink.

But the claim was unsubstantiated by any factual evidence and, therefore, Amoco was slapped with a fine by the FTC.

at the time the country was going through a clear revolution.

Read the full text here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/17036#ixzz2DMettjz9
–brought to you by mental_floss

9. That wearing sneakers makes you skinny.

Skechers‘ used celebrities like Kim Kardashian to shill its Shape-up sneakers, claiming that you only had to tie your shoes to lose weight.

The FTC disagreed, and the shoe company ended up paying a $40 million settlement.

This ruling shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Just a year before, also working under the assumption that people wanted to dress for work rather than go to the gym, Reebok claimed that its EasyTone shoes and clothing would automatically make people lose weight.

It ended up settling for $25 million, and everyone who bought the product was entitled to a refund.

8. That Hoover would fly people to the U.S. for free if they bought a vacuum. (Read the outcome below.)

8. That Hoover would fly people to the U.S. for free if they bought a vacuum. (Read the outcome below.)

In 1992, Hoover promised Brits two free round-trip flights to the U.S. if they spent just £100 on any Hoover item.

Sounds too good to be true? That’s because it was.

When Hoover found out that it was unprepared to provide consumers with the free flights, it extended, rather than call off the campaign. Consumers wanting their prize then had to contact the company and send form after form after form to claim their tickets. Hoover hoped that they’d tire people out before they’d realize that the plane tickets didn’t exist.

It lead to a parliamentary inquiry and cost Hoover £48 million.

7. That One A Day vitamins prevent prostate cancer.

Bayer had to pay hefty fines for claiming that one of its vitamin ingredients, Selenium, prevented prostate cancer.

In fact, studies have shown that Selenium not only fails to prevent the cancer in healthy men but can increase the risk of diabetes.

Bayer had to pay $3.3 million in Oregon, California, and Illinois for corrective advertising.

6. That Rice Krispies will save your children from Swine Flu.

In 2009, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies claimed, in big letters, that the cereal “Now helps support your child’s IMMUNITY” by providing 25 percent of daily recommended antioxidants, vitamins, and nutrients.

The FTC told Kellogg to halt these “dubious” and unproven claims. Kellogg’s removed the wording on the boxes and explained that “While science shows that these antioxidants help support the immune system, given the public attention on H1N1, the company decided to make this change.”

One year before, Kellogg also got in trouble with the FTC for saying that Frosted Mini-Wheats increased kids’ attentiveness by nearly 20 percent — without the studies to back it up.

5. That Nutella is good for you.

For those who subscribed to President Reagan’s “ketchup is a vegetable” belief system, Nutella created ads that claimed that its delicious, hazelnut spread is actually a nutritious part of a kid’s breakfast.

Still, a mother of a 4-year-old sued, and Nutella settled for $3 million. People who bought Nutella between January 1, 2008, and February 3, 2012, could get reimbursed up to $20.

4. Another big advertising lie is that fast food looks as good in real life as it does in ads. Here’s an advertised versus actual Whopper:

The same goes for Taco Bell …

… and McDonald’s.

2. That Listerine cures everything from dandruff to cuts and bruises.

2. That Listerine cures everything from dandruff to cuts and bruises.

It couldn’t. Obviously.

Listerine claimed to be a cure-all since 1921, remedying colds and sore throats as well as acting as an after-shave tonic.

It wasn’t until 1975 that the Federal Trade Commission ruled the ads misleading and slapped the company with a $10 million fine to pay for corrective advertising stating: “contrary to prior advertising, Listerine will not help prevent colds or sore throats or lessen their severity.”

Then Listerine said that it was as effective as floss.

Then Listerine said that it was as effective as floss.

BillTsiakarosCreative via Flickr

This claim also proved misleading.

A U.S. District Judge ordered Pfizer, Listerine’s maker at the time, to pull the ads in 2005.

Although a 2010 class action suit against Listerine for the false advertising was thrown out for going “overboard.” The ads were pulled quickly and, therefore, weren’t exposed to a lot of people.

1. The classic lie, of course, is that cigarettes are healthy. This old ad for “Asthma Cigarettes” claimed to reduce bronchial irritation. “Not recommended for children under 6,” though.

1. The classic lie, of course, is that cigarettes are healthy. This old ad for "Asthma Cigarettes" claimed to reduce bronchial irritation. "Not recommended for children under 6," though.

Even Santa said cigarettes cured throat sores.

Even Santa said cigarettes cured throat sores.

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| Alcohol used to induce heart attack in order to save patient’s life!

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Alcohol used to induce heart attack and save patient’s life ~ ELLA PICKOVER, The Independent.

 

Doctors have saved a patient’s life by killing off part of his heart with neat alcohol.

Medics used the rare treatment to induce a controlled heart attack.

Cardiologist Dr Tom Johnson said his patient Ronald Aldom would never have left the Bristol Heart Institute if his condition could not been treated.

The 77-year-old was suffering from a life threatening heart rhythm called ventricular tachycardia (VT) – which occurred as a result of a previous heart attack.

A team of surgeons tried to treat the condition using standard procedures but were unable to safely perform them.

The team decided to treat Mr Aldom, from Portishead near Bristol, with “ethanol ablation”.

The treatment has only been conducted a handful of times in the UK to treat VT, Dr Johnson said.

The procedure involves passing a catheter to the heart from the groin which identifies which part of the heart the dangerous rhythms are coming from.

A tiny balloon is then blown up in the heart artery supplying that area and a small amount of absolute alcohol is injected into the artery to produce a small controlled heart attack.

This kills the area of the heart muscle causing the problem allowing the heart’s rhythm to return to normal.

Mr Aldom said he was admitted to hospital after his implantable defibrillator (ICD) gave him a “thunderstorm of shocks”.

Dr Johnson, an interventional cardiologist, said: “Mr Aldom presented a couple of months ago with this life-threatening type rhythm disturbance, VT, which was related to the damage done to the heart – the scar associated with his previous heart attack.

“The defibrillator is there to try and prevent you from dropping dead in the community – they listen out for the heart doing unusual things – if your heart is doing something unusual like going very, very fast, firstly it will try and pace you out of that rhythm – it will try and suppress the activity within the heart.

“If that fails it will actually illicit a shock of energy across the heart which hopefully straightens things out and puts you back into a normal rhythm.

“It is potentially a rather difficult thing for a patient to live with because there is that threat that it could go off and actually when it does go off it is like being kicked in the chest.”

Mr Aldom added: “I was admitted to the Bristol Heart Institute after what doctors described as a thunderstorm of shocks from my ICD.

“I had an ICD fitted about ten years ago after I had a double by-pass operation at the hospital. The device gives my heart a shock when the rhythm becomes abnormal; however, I had about 30 shocks and knew there was something wrong.”

Dr Johnson said the team of medics tried to treat Mr Aldom’s irregular heartbeat with medication and “electrical ablation” to try and burn away – or kill off – the area of muscle which was generating the irregular heartbeats.

But they were unable to perform the procedures – so treating they decided to treat Mr Aldom with ethanol ablation.

“The alternative, unfortunately, was that he was going to die from his irregular heart rhythm,” he said.

Dr Johnson has previously performed the procedure for patients with Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – a condition in which the heart muscle becomes thick – but this was his first use of the procedure to treat VT.

“The patient is doing tremendously well and is doing and is much better,” he said.

“He wasn’t going to leave hospital unless something was done. There was no other option.”

Mr Aldom added: “After the procedure I was out of hospital within about three days.

“I think it’s wonderful that the doctors tried everything to help me. If they hadn’t have done this I wouldn’t be here now.”

PA

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| Medical: Grapefruit juice and pills mix warning!

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Grapefruit and pills mix warning ~ James Gallagher, Health and science reporter, BBC News.

Grapefruit

Doctors have warned of a “lack of knowledge” about the dangers of mixing some medications with grapefruit.

The fruit can cause overdoses of some drugs by stopping the medicines being broken down in the intestines and the liver.

The researchers who first identified the link said the number of drugs that became dangerous with grapefruit was increasing rapidly.

They were writing in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The team at the Lawson Health Research Institute in Canada said the number of drugs which had serious side effects with grapefruit had gone from 17 in 2008 to 43 in 2012.

They include some drugs for a range of conditions including blood pressure, cancer and cholesterol-lowering statins and those taken to suppress the immune system after an organ transplant.


“One tablet with a glass of grapefruit juice can be like taking five or 10 tablets with a glass of water” ~ Dr David BaileyResearcher

Chemicals in grapefruit, furanocoumarins, wipe out an enzyme which breaks the drugs down. It means much more of the drug escapes the digestive system than the body can handle.

ToxicThree times the levels of one blood pressure drug, felodipine, was reported after patients had a glass of grapefruit juice compared with a glass of water.

The side effects are varied depending on the drug, but include stomach bleeds, altered heart beat, kidney damage and sudden death.

Dr David Bailey, one of the researchers, told the BBC: “One tablet with a glass of grapefruit juice can be like taking five or 10 tablets with a glass of water and people say I don’t believe it, but I can show you that scientifically it is sound.

“So you can unintentionally go from a therapeutic level to a toxic level just by consuming grapefruit juice.”

The report said: “We contend that there remains a lack of knowledge about this interaction in the general health care community.”

They added: “Unless health care professionals are aware of the possibility that the adverse event they are seeing might have an origin in the recent addition of grapefruit to the patient’s diet, it is very unlikely that they will investigate it.”

Other citrus fruits such as Seville oranges, often used in marmalade, and limes have the same effect.

Neal Patel, from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said: “Grapefruit isn’t the only food that can cause issues, for example milk can stop the absorption of some antibiotics if taken at the same time.

“Although some of these interactions may not be clinically significant, some may lead to more serious outcomes.

“Pharmacists are the best port of call for anyone concerned about how their diet may affect their medication. Information about any interactions would always be included in the patient information leaflet that comes with the medicine.”

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| Are you taking the right painkiller?

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Are you taking the right painkiller? ~ NAOMI COLEMAN, Daily Mail.

Rather than troubling our doctor with minor ailments, most of us reach for the nearest painkiller. But are you taking the right one?

The range of painkillers can be a minefield. There are so many different types of products on offer – and some are more appropriate for minor ailments than others.

Every day around six million people visit their pharmacist – and there is a growing trend to buy more over-the-counter painkillers than ever.

According to Brian Duggan, pharmacist at Boots, choosing which painkiller to take depends on the type of pain you are suffering from.

Painkillers actually fall into three main groups of ingredients: paracetamol, aspirin and ibuprofen, and codeine which is a relative to morphine.

‘Some pain relief is better for certain types of pain,’ he says. ‘The ibuprofen group of painkiller is ideal for muscular pain relief because it has anti-inflammatory properties – whereas aspirin is good for flu-like symptoms thanks to its fever-reducing effects.’

Here’s our guide to finding the best pain relief for your specific ailment

Paracetamol
Paracetamol acts as a general pain reliever and has similar effects to those of aspirin. Unlike aspirin – which is an anti-inflammatory drug – it doesn’t speed up healing of inflammation. However it can help reduce fever due to its anti-pyretic (temperature reducing) properties – useful for cold and flu symptoms. It is also particularly good for feverish colds and tension headaches.

Although there is no proof how it works, one theory is that paracetamol stops certain chemicals being released in the brain – which happen in response to pain.

 

 

Main brands: Panadol – sold as tablets and capsules.
Best for: Feverish colds and flu, tension headaches and general pain relief.
Best taken: Can take as a tablet, capsule or soluble tablet. There are also liquid versions available for children. Paracetamol can be taken on an empty stomach – or after food.
Maximum 24-hour dose: Eight tablets (500mg each) a day. No more than two tablets taken together four times a day.
Risks: Beware not to double up your doseage. There are many other cold and flu products available on the market containing paracetamol – such as Lemsip.
Side effects: Taking too much paracetamol can overload the liver and cause liver conditions. People with liver conditions should consult their GP. According to pharmacists, paracetamol is the safetest pain killer to take during pregnancy, although it should be avoided during the first three months.

Aspirin and ibuprofen
Aspirin and ibuprofen (a derivative of aspirin)are both non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) ideal for muscular pain relief such as period pain, neck ache and pain caused by broken bones.

Aspirin and ibuprofen work in two ways. They help block prostaglandin – hormonelike substances responsible for pain and inflammation. Second, aspirin and ibuprofen act by reducing any inflammation or irritation that surrounds a wound, thus speeding up the healing process.

 

 

Main brands: Nurofen is one of the leading brand names for ibuprofen – and Anadin is one of the leading brand names for aspirin.
Best for: Muscular pain relief such as period pain, neck ache and pain from broken bones.
Best taken: As a tablet or liquid form for children. Taking NSAIDs with food may help prevent stomach irritation.
Maximum 24-hour dose: Two 200mg tablets three times a day – no more than six tablets a day.
Risks: Avoid doubling up on aspirin and ibuprofen as these combinations are often found in cold and flu preparations.
Side-effects: Taking too much aspirin and ibuprofen can irritate the lining of the stomach. Repetitive high doses can sometimes lead to stomach ulcers. In very high doses, aspirin can cause serious side effects such as abnormal breathing. One of the first signs of overdose is ringing in the ears.

Codeine
Codeine – related to morphine – is often combined with paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin. This combination helps boost the painkiller which does not have any anti-inflammatory or temperature reducing effects. Because it combines other painkillers, codeine is particularly good for migraines, period pain, toothache and mouth abscesses.

Codeine blocks pain receptors found at the end of nerves in our bodies. This stops the pain from reaching our brains. However, although we don’t register the pain, it is still there.

 

 

Main brands: Nurofen plus (ibuprofen with codeine), solpadeine (paracetamol with codeine) and feminax (aspirin and codeine).
Best for: Migraines, period pain, toothache and mouth abscesses.
Best taken: As codeine comes in combination form look at the ingredients. If codeine contains ibuprofen take after food, if paracetamol, take when pain first arrives. Many codeine combinations come in effervescent form which can be absorbed more rapidly.
Maximum 24-hour dose: If combined with paracetamol, take no more than eight a day. If combined with ibuprofen, no more than six 200mg tablets a day. Do not exceed eight 300mg tablets of codeine and aspirin.
Risks: Because codeine is combined with other drugs, always follow the guidance on the packet. If you follow the recommended doseage, there is no risk of addiction.
Side-effects: High doses of codeine can cause constipation and drowsiness.

| Crash teenager declared brain dead by 4 Doctors fully recovers!

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Teenager declared brain-dead by FOUR doctors makes miracle recovery moments before life support machine was switched off after father plead for second opinion ~  MATT BLAKE, Daily Mail.

A teenager who was declared brain dead by four doctors made a ‘miracle’ recovery after his parents begged medics for a second opinion – moments before his life support was to be switched off.

Doctors described Steven Thorpe as ‘truly a unique case’ after he awoke from a two-week coma following a multiple car crash that claimed the life of his schoolfriend.

Steven, then 17, was travelling in a Rover with pals Matthew Jones, 18, and Harry Dipper in the early hours of February 1 2008 when a stray horse ran into the path of the car ahead.

Unable to dodge the beast, the car flipped in front of them and back-seat passenger Steven was flung into the road in the pile up that ensued, which also included a black cab. He never recovered from his injuries.

Steven, who is now 21, was placed in a chemically-induced coma and doctors said he would never recover – they even asked his devastated parents to consider donating his organs.

But Steven’s father asked doctors to reconsider and enlisted private GP Julia Piper to examine him again after being convinced that their son could recover.

Doctors at University Hospital in Coventry, West Midlands, agreed to let a neurologist re-examine him and, astonishingly, he detected faint brain waves indicating Steven had a slim chance of making a recovery.

NHS chiefs agreed to bring Steven out of his coma to see if he could survive on his own and he stunned medics by making an almost full recovery.

Incredibly, just five weeks later Steven was discharged from hospital.

Speaking about his amazing recovery for the first time, Steven, now aged 21 and a trainee accountant, said: ‘My father believed I was still there.

‘He expressed his views to Julia Piper and I think she listened very closely to what my dad had said.

‘My impression is maybe the hospital weren’t very happy that my father wanted a second opinion.

‘I think the doctors wanted to give me three days on the life support machine and the following day they said they wanted to turn it off.

‘The words they used to my parents were ‘you need to start thinking about organ donations’.

‘I think that’s what gave my dad energy, he thought ‘no way’.

Savior: Steven with Dr Julia Piper who saved his life in Leicester. She made doctors take a second look at him before making the final decision to switch his life-support machine offSavior: Steven with Dr Julia Piper who saved his life in Leicester. She made doctors take a second look at him before making the final decision to switch his life-support machine off

‘I think if my dad would’ve agreed with them then it would’ve been off in seconds.

‘If my parents hadn’t asked for the second opinion, and if Julia hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be here today.’

Steven, from Kenilworth, Warkwickshire, was travelling home from nearby Leamington Spa in February 2008 when the vehicle he was in was involved in a collision with two other cars and a horse that had run loose.

The crash left one man dead and the horse was also fatally injured.

Steven added: ‘As far as I am concerned, living is a full recovery. From how I was to how I am now, I think it’s a miracle.

‘I drive to work every day, I don’t think anything is holding me back. There’s no point dwelling on it, I just pull my socks up and get on with it.

‘Hopefully it can help people see that you should never give up. I’ve had so much positive feedback about it.

Life saving: General Practice in Leicester, run by Dr Piper Life saving: General Practice in Leicester, run by Dr Piper

‘If you believe it then follow it, that’s the motto. My father believed I was alive – and he was correct.

‘It’s hard for me to even ask my parents about what happened.

‘They do cooperate with me because they want me to understand it all but they don’t want to be reminded about it.’

Dr Piper, who runs a private practice in Leicester, said: ‘They had doctors saying he wasn’t going to live but the parents felt there was flickers of response and it wasn’t just wishful thinking.

‘I had this strong feeling that this wasn’t right and then eventually I got someone else to look at him and of course it proved to have been the right thing to have done.

Miracle: Steven after two operations on his face following the car crash in which another man diedMiracle: Steven after two operations on his face following the car crash in which another man died

‘It’s an inspirational story about never giving up.

‘He’s a remarkable young man and his recovery has been astonishing.’

Since leaving hospital four years ago, Steven has had four operations to reconstruct his mangled face – including having his nose rebuilt and an artificial eye socket made.

He also has physiotherapy session to improve the movement in his left arm – which was badly injured in the road smash.

In a statement, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust said: ‘The injury to Steven’s brain was extremely critical and several CT scans of the head showed almost irreversible damage.

‘It is extremely rare that a patient having suffered such extensive trauma to the brain should survive.

‘However, critical care and other specialist teams continued to support his systems through his critical period and we were delighted to see Steven recover and make progress against all the odds.

‘He is truly a unique case.’

| New treatment for prostate cancer gives ‘perfect results’ for nine in ten men: research!

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New treatment for prostate cancer gives ‘perfect results’ for nine in ten men: research ~ , Medical Editor, The Telegraph.

 

A new treatment for prostate cancer can rid the disease from nine in ten men without debilitating side effects, a study has found, leading to new hope for tens of thousands of men.

t is hoped the new treatment, which involves heating only the tumours with a highly focused ultrasound, will mean men can be treated without an overnight stay in hospital and avoiding the distressing side effects associated with current therapies.

A study has found that focal HIFU, high-intensity focused ultrasound, provides the ‘perfect’ outcome of no major side effects and free of cancer 12 months after treatment, in nine out of ten cases.

Traditional surgery or radiotherapy can only provide the perfect outcome in half of cases currently.

Experts have said the results are ‘very encouraging’ and were a ‘paradigm’ shift in treatment of the disease.

It is hoped that large scale trials can now begin so the treatment could be offered routinely on the NHS within five years.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence will say in new guidance next week that the treatment is safe and effective and larger scale trials should go ahead.

A larger trial is already recruiting patients and men interested in the treatment should speak to their cancer doctor or GP about being referrred, experts said.

Prostate cancer is the commonest cancer in men with more than 37,000 diagnoses each year approximately 10,000 deaths.

Current treatments include surgery to remove the whole prostate or radiotherapy. Both of which can effectively treat the cancer but often cause side effects such as incontinence and impotence.

However in many men prostate cancer will not progress to a life threatening disease meaning that radical treatment risks side effects unnecessarily. For this reason, research is now focused on reducing side effects.

Focal HIFU involves careful selection of tumours, as small as a grain of rice, within the prostate gland and targeting them with highly focused ultrasound to heat them and destroy them.

The advantage over previous HIFU and other treatments is that damage to surrounding tissue is minimised, meaning there are far fewer side effects.

In the study published in the journal Lancet Oncology, 41 men were treated with focal HIFU. After 12 months, none were incontinent and one in ten suffered impotence.

The majority, 95 per cent, were free of cancer after 12 months.

Dr Hashim Ahmed, who led the study at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust andUniversity College London, said: “This changes the paradigm. By focusing just on the areas of cancer we reduce the collateral damage to surrounding tissue.

“Our results are very encouraging. We’re optimistic that men diagnosed with prostate cancer may soon be able to undergo a day case surgical procedure, which can be safely repeated once or twice, to treat their condition with very few side-effects. That could mean a significant improvement in their quality of life.

“This study provides the proof-of-concept we need to develop a much larger trial to look at whether focal therapy is as effective as the current standard treatment in protecting the health of the men treated for prostate cancer in the medium and long term.”

He said after Nice guidance is issued next week, he expected other doctors to consider using the treatment.

He said: “These results will encourage more physicians to look at it more carefully.

“If men are interested in this concept they should speak to their cancer doctror or their GP.

“The next step is a large scale randomised controlled trial. This needs to be evaluated in a timly way so men can benefit.”

The research programme is led by Professor Mark Emberton, of UCL and UCLH. He said: “Focal therapy offers harm reduction – it is a strategy that attempts to redress the balance of harms and benefits by offering men who place high utility on genito-urinary function an alternative to standard care.

“In fact, the concept is not new – tissue preserving strategies have been used successfully in all other solid organ cancers such as breast cancer by offering women a lumpectomy rather than mastectomy.”

Professor Gillies McKenna, director of the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology, said: “Clinical trials, like this one supported by the MRC, are a fantastic tool for telling us whether experimental new treatments are likely to be effective in the clinic.

“If these promising results can be confirmed in a randomised controlled trial, focal therapy could soon become a reasonable treatment choice for prostate cancer alongside other proven effective therapies.”

The research was funded by the MRC, the Pelican Cancer Foundation and St Peter’s Trust.

Jacqui Graves, Interim Head of Healthcare at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “We welcome any research that shows early signs of improving the outcomes of treatment for prostate cancer patients.

“Significant reduction in the likelihood of common side effects, such as incontinence, will enable men to recover better and go on to lead good quality lives. We hope that a larger trial will be supported to ensure that the UK achieves the best outcomes for men affected by prostate cancer.”

Owen Sharp, Chief Executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity said: “We welcome the development of any prostate cancer treatment which limits the possibility of damaging side effects such as incontinence and impotence. These early results certainly indicate that focal HIFU has the potential to achieve this in the future.

“However, we need to remember that this treatment was given to fewer than 50 men, without follow up over a sustained period of time. We look forward to the results of further trials, which we hope will provide a clearer idea of whether this treatment can control cancer in the long term whilst ridding men of the fear that treating their cancer might mean losing their quality of life.”

| Spectacular Brain Images reveal surprisingly simple structure!

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Spectacular Brain Images Reveal Surprisingly Simple Structure ~ Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer.

Stunning new visuals of the brain reveal a deceptively simple pattern of organization in the wiring of this complex organ.

Instead of nerve fibers travelling willy-nilly through the brain like spaghetti, as some imaging has suggested, the new portraits reveal two-dimensional sheets of parallel fibers crisscrossing other sheets at right angles in a gridlike structure that folds and contorts with the convolutions of the brain.

This same pattern appeared in the brains of humans, rhesus monkeys, owl monkeys, marmosets and galagos, researchers report today (March 29) in the journal Science.

“The upshot is the fibers of the brain form a 3D grid and are organized in this exceptionally simple way,” study leader Van Wedeen, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, told LiveScience. “This motif of crossing in three axes is the basic motif of brain tissue.” [Inside the Brain: A Journey Through Time]

Grid structure of major pathways of the human left cerebral hemisphere. Seen here are a major bundle of front-to-back paths (the “superior longitudinal fasciculus”, or SLF) rendered in purples. These cross nearly orthogonally to paths projecting from the cerebral cortex radially inward (belonging to the “internal capsule”), shown in orange and yellow. These data were obtained in the new MGH-UCLA 3T Connectom Scanner as part of the NIH Blueprint Human Connectome Project. 
CREDIT: [Image courtesy of MGH-UCLA Human Connectome Project 

 

The organized brain

The surface of the brain contains about 40 billion nerve cells, each making about 1,000 connections in a pattern that brain researchers have yet to decipher, said Marsel Mesulam, the director of the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center at Northwestern University. Mesulam, who was not involved in the study, called Wedeen's work "very exciting."

"There can be no more fundamental question in philosophy, in psychology," Mesulam told LiveScience. "The human brain is the single most complex device in the known universe, and it works by nerve cells talking to each other. If we can't figure out how they decide who to talk to and what they tell each other, we just don't understand how the brain functions."

Using a technique he developed called diffusion spectrum magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Wedeen traced the movement of water molecules along the intersections of brain fibers (the cellular projections that form the brain's communication network), tracking the orientation of each fiber at each crossing.

This is a detail of a diffusion spectrum MR image of rhesus monkey brain showing the sheet-like, three-dimensional structure of neural pathways that cross each other at right angles.
CREDIT: Van Wedeen, M.D., Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital

"What emerged was astonishing," Wedeen said. "What emerged was that the set of fibers that crossed a given fiber, invariably — and that's a really strong invariably — look like mutually parallel fibers all coming in like the teeth of a comb and crossing it in one direction." [See video of the brain structure]

Animal studies had suggested this pattern might exist, and researchers already knew that the nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain stem were organized in very structured parallels and perpendiculars even in humans (consider the long nerve fibers that run down the backbone and then branch out perpendicularly from the vertebrae). But it’s difficult to get high-resolution scans of fiber connectivity in the human cortex, given that humans tend to become uncomfortable if left in an MRI scanner for more than 45 minutes or so, Wedeen said. For that reason, images of human brain connectionshave tended to look like tangled spaghetti, he said.

Wedeen and his colleagues scanned four types of primate brains from deceased animals, enabling them to image the brains for up to 48 hours, as well as brains from living human subjects using a new scanner that can achieve 10 times the resolution of conventional MRI machines. Using special software, the researchers then reconstructed three-dimensional images of the brain-fiber pathways.

“Looking across multiple species, it emerged that the pattern was substantially similar,” Wedeen said. “When you went from primates with small brains to primates with big brains … the rules were the same, but they were being applied more diversely and with more layers in the larger, more complex brains.”

Adaptable brain

The finding of clear up-down, front-back and side-to-side organization in the brain makes sense, Wedeen said, given that the brain has had to rewire both evolutionarily (to form the specialized brains humans boast today) and during its lifetime (as it grows and learns, for example). If the organization of communication were chaotic, that wouldn’t work.

“It’s like rewiring your basement at random,” Wedeen said. “First thing that happens, house burns down, you die.”

In other words, adapting a complexly wired brain that will still allow the next generation to survive would be next to impossible.

“If you try to picture what would happen if you tried to turn one spaghetti brain into a different spaghetti brain, you realize you would need an impossibly knowledgably intelligent designer standing above the brain and rewiring it,” Wedeen said.

With an organized grid structure, however, evolution can easily build on what came before — adding in a more complex forebrain in humans versus our monkey relatives, for example.

More work should be done to link the imaging methods of Wedeen with traditional neuroanatomy methods to confirm the findings, Mesulam said. Wedeen plans to expand the map of the human brain into more detail. It’s also important to understand the relationship between a brain’s structure and its function, he said. Understanding the structure of a typical brain would ultimately help scientists comprehend what happens when brain development goes wrong, as in Alzheimer’s or mental illness.

“Say somebody comes to you with their 2-year-old and they say, ‘My 2-year-old is just not looking me in the eyes’. Is this the first sign of Asperger’s or just an individual difference?” Wedeen said. “You’d know how to begin. You’d know what you were doing.”