Urine test for prostate diagnosis

A URINE test can help doctors better spot prostate cancer than either the current blood test or a rectal exam alone, US researchers reported recently.

They said Gen-Probe’s Progensa PCA3 test caught about half the actual cases of prostate cancer in men who had abnormal PSA levels or digital rectal exams, and had about a 20% “false positive” rate.

“That’s pretty good, actually,” said Dr David Crawford of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, who helped lead the study.

Trying to diagnose prostate cancer is one of the most maddening tasks a doctor has to do.

The prostate is a walnut-shaped gland that produces semen. Digital rectal exams can tell a specialist that it is getting bigger, but that happens with normal ageing as well.

A blood test for prostate specific antigen or PSA shows when PSA rises, but PSA goes up with either cancer or just normal enlargement of the prostate – or even if the gland is inflamed, such as from an infection.

Biopsies are difficult and painful to do and may take a portion of healthy prostate, missing any tumours entirely. And prostate tumours can grow slowly.

A study last year estimated that more than one million men in the US alone had been needlessly treated for prostate tumours that likely would never have killed them.

The Progensa test looks for a genetic material called PCA3. It is a string of RNA that does not appear to have any function but that is overexpressed, or overactive, in prostate cancer.

Lightly touching the prostate can cause its release and it can then be detected in the urine using the test.

Crawford and colleagues tested Progensa in about 1,900 men who had high PSA readings, an abnormal digital rectal exam or both and who were scheduled to have biopsies.

“It reflects on the aggressiveness of the cancer,” Crawford said. “If you had no cancer, your PCA3 was at 25 or 20. If you had precursors such as high grade PIN (prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia), your score was about 38 to 40 and men who had cancer scored about 50 to 55.”
The test indicated that 78% of the men had cancer and actually did. This compares to just 21% for PSA alone, the researchers told a meeting of the American Urological Association in San Francisco.

“If the PCA3 is abnormal, above about 35, you have got an 80% chance of having cancer,” Crawford said. – Reuters

Modern Wheat A "Perfect, Chronic Poison," Doctor Says

Modern wheat is a "perfect, chronic poison," according to Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist who has published a book all about the world's most popular grain.

Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on "CBS This Morning." "This thing has many new features nobody told you about, such as there's a new protein in this thing called gliadin. It's not gluten. I'm not addressing people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. I'm talking about everybody else because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."

Asked if the farming industry could change back to the grain it formerly produced, Davis said it could, but it would not be economically feasible because it yields less per acre. However, Davis said a movement has begun with people turning away from wheat - and dropping substantial weight.

"If three people lost eight pounds, big deal," he said. "But we're seeing hundreds of thousands of people losing 30, 80, 150 pounds. Diabetics become no longer diabetic; people with arthritis having dramatic relief. People losing leg swelling, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and on and on every day."

To avoid these wheat-oriented products, Davis suggests eating "real food," such as avocados, olives, olive oil, meats, and vegetables. "(It's) the stuff that is least likely to have been changed by agribusiness," he said. "Certainly not grains. When I say grains, of course, over 90 percent of all grains we eat will be wheat, it's not barley... or flax. It's going to be wheat.

"It's really a wheat issue."

Some health resources, such as the Mayo Clinic, advocate a more balanced diet that does include wheat. But Davis said on "CTM" they're just offering a poor alternative.

"All that literature says is to replace something bad, white enriched products with something less bad, whole grains, and there's an apparent health benefit - 'Let's eat a whole bunch of less bad things.' So I take...unfiltered cigarettes and replace with Salem filtered cigarettes, you should smoke the Salems. That's the logic of nutrition, it's a deeply flawed logic. What if I take it to the next level, and we say, 'Let's eliminate all grains,' what happens then?

"That's when you see, not improvements in health, that's when you see transformations in health."

Source: CBS News

A Study Shows that Amateur Tattoos May Carry Hepatitis C Risk

If you're planning on getting a tattoo, make sure it's from a professional and not a friend because ink work by amateurs may carry a risk of Hepatitis C, according to a new report.

In an analysis of several dozen past studies, researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that tattoos from non-professionals appear to increase the risk of a possible blood-borne liver infection.

By contrast, there is no evidence that tattoos done by professionals carried such a risk.

Hepatitis C remains a major public health problem in the United States with between 75 and 85 percent of people infected with the disease developing chronic infection that can lead to serious diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer.

The illness is passed to people through contact with infected blood.

In the United States, there are roughly 18,000 new Hepatitis C infections every year, mostly when people who inject drugs share tainted needles or syringes.

But there are other ways of contracting the disease.

"Tattoos and piercings can transmit hepatitis C and other infections if performed under non-sterile conditions," Rania Tohme, an epidemiologist at the CDC who led the study, told Reuters Health in an email.

"People should not have tattoos or piercings done by friends or by people who are not trained professionals."

The findings, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, are based on a collection of studies that have been made public since 1994.

In general, people who had tattoos by non-professionals faced a hepatitis C risk that was two to four times higher than average.

Prison tattoos are a particular problem, Tohme's team wrote, because tattooing is so common and inmates may have other risk factors for Hepatitis C.

"To this date, there has been no evidence that tattoos and piercings performed in professional parlors in the United States have been implicated in transmission of hepatitis C virus," Tohme said.

If going to a non-professional, though, there are some precautions that can be taken, Tohme said.

"Disposable piercing needles, tattoo needles and razors are used on one person and then thrown away. Reusing needles or razors is not safe," Tohme added. – Reuters

Thirteen tips for healthy life in 2013

Preachy healthy lifestyle advice often seems to take the joy out of living, but here are 13 simple steps that will help keep you on track without feeling guilty

Grill a rasher of back bacon, a tomato, some mushrooms and a slice of wholegrain toast; add an egg poached or scrambled in a little semi-skimmed milk and enjoy it all with an Americano or a cuppa. It’s a more nutritious, more filling option than fat and sugar-laden “Continental” pastries, juice and lattes.

Stop multitasking

Keep your anxiety levels down by stopping trying to do lots of things at once. It takes longer than completing them one at a time, brain researchers believe. Multitasking only works if you are very practised at both activities - like talking and walking.

Give up perfectionism

Perfectionists tend to be people pleasers, but often end up driving colleagues nuts because they take on too much and fail to deliver on time. Good enough is fine.

Make new connections

Bored by friends or colleagues? Don’t feel bad. The most creative executives, research has shown, have excellent “discovery skills” - they are always seeking out new connections and ideas.

Let your mind wander

Are you a bit of a daydreamer? Congratulations - trying to stay focussed all the time prevents different parts of your brain make creative, surprising connections, neuroscientists suggest. It’s why “Eureka” moments often occur when doing something unrelated to the task in hand.

Avoid meetings

Sometimes the whole day can be taken up my meetings, preventing you doing your own work. So keep them to a minimum, and rest assured that contrary to received wisdom, brainstorming produces fewer high quality ideas than working independently - probably because we can’t pass the buck.

Don’t put the kettle on

If you feel mean because you rarely do the office coffee run, don’t. Experiments have shown that the kindness of strangers is often more appreciated than that of close associates, who may just be trying to curry favour.

It’s a wrap

Swap your lunchtime baguette or sandwich for a wrap with lean meat or fish and lots of salad. Yes it looks bigger, but there’s a higher proportion of filling to bread, which is more nutritious and sustaining.

Pub lunch

Tuck into a couple of slices of chicken or lean roast beef, a colourful range of veg (to get the biggest variety of nutrients) and two small roasties. That is a better balance than a Ploughman’s with a hunk of cheese, butter, white bread and pickle.

Eat pasta

If you love Italian food, a small portion of pasta and lots of sauce full of veg and/or lean protein like Napolitana or Marinara is a healthier option than a pizza - which is mainly dough and cheese with only sprinkling of nutritious bits.

Frozen food

Frozen food like peas and fish often has fresher ingredients than chilled ready meals - which come with expensive packaging and more preservatives. Frozen may be cheaper, but it’s not always junk food.

Play a computer game

They can make hard things seems possible, encourage our active involvement and unite strangers or friends in a common cause. You can’t say that about a DVD of Downton Abbey.

Cry, baby

A 2012 study suggested that eight-month-old babies whose parents had used “controlled crying” techniques to get them off to sleep had come to no harm when followed up five years later - but the parents were in better shape than those who had left their babies to cry.

Let teenagers sleep

We all know about teenage hormones, but less understood is that they affect sleeping patterns. Teenagers whose sleep is disturbed have similar symptoms to jet lag, so don’t get wound-up by those weekend lie-ins.

Source: The Telegraph UK

Eating junk food linked to asthma and eczema in children

Eating junk food just three times a week may lead to asthma and eczema in children, scientists have found.

The high saturated fat levels in food such as burgers lower children's immune systems, it is believed.

A research project involving more than 50 countries found that teenagers who ate junk food three times a week or more were 39 per cent more likely to get severe asthma. Younger children were 27 per cent more at risk.

Both were also more prone to the eye condition rhinoconjunctivitis, according to The Sun newspaper

But just three weekly portions of fruit and vegetables could cut that risk by 14 per cent in the younger group and 11 per cent among the teens, it is believed.

Researchers from New Zealand's Auckland University looked at the diets of 181,000 youngsters aged six to seven and 319,000 aged 13-14.

The scientists then asked if the children had allergy symptoms.

They wrote in the journal Thorax, where the study is published: "Fast food may be contributing to increasing asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema.

"Regular consumption of fruit and vegetables is likely to protect against these diseases."

In the UK alone 1.1 million children already suffer with asthma and one in five get eczema.

The team of researchers warn that their results do not prove cause and effect.


Author: Hayley Dixon, The Telegraph UK

Hypertension Alert!

HERE are some grim news: many people who have hypertension do not even know that they have it.

According to Dr Azani Mohammed Daud , who is the president of the Malaysian Society of Hypertension, “for every person diagnosed with hypertension, there are six who are not”.

Speaking at the society’s ninth Annual Scientific Meeting recently, he said only 40% of Malaysians suffering from hypertension are properly diagnosed with the disease.

“Most patients with hypertension don’t know that they have it,” said Azani. “Hypertension is a risk factor for heart attacks and in Asians particularly, it’s a risk factor for strokes. In Malaysia, we see six new stroke patients a day.

“Over the long term, hypertension causes damage to the kidney. Malaysia has one of the highest rates of patients undergoing dialysis.”

Azani said most people are unaware that they have hypertension due to the absence of symptoms.

Some people, however, have persistent headaches and a check with their doctor usually reveals that they have high blood pressure readings.

“They are the lucky ones as they can get treatment immediately,” said Azani who suggested that people request for a blood pressure reading each time they visit their doctor, no matter what their ailment is.

He added that health authorities recommend that people over the age of 30 should have their blood pressure checked regularly. “You should get your blood pressure checked at least once a year.”

The director general of health, Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman, said that according to a survey by the Ministry of Health, there are some 5.8 million people in Malaysia who have high blood pressure but only 2.2 million seek regular treatment.

He pointed out that the best way to control hypertension is through early detection.

He said people can even get their blood pressure read when they visit their sick family members or friends at hospitals.

“Just go to the counter and the nurses or hospital attendants will do it for you for free,” said Hasan

Top reaseons why diets fail--and how to succeed

Underestimating the number of calories consumed and not getting enough shut-eye are some of the reasons why dieters fail to win the battle of the bulge.

That's according to one medical expert who doled out some helpful advice this week, at a time when the weight loss industry churns at fever pitch, gyms the world over are filled to capacity and dieters take on a steely resolve to win the battle of the bulge.

But like every year, good intentions often fall by the wayside, dissolving at the sight of chocolate cake or morning traffic.

Conquering one of the most popular New Year's resolutions is also about identifying some of the top reasons why weight loss efforts fail, says Dr. Jessica Bartfield of the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery & Bariatric Care in Chicago, who points out that only 20 percent of people who vow to lose weight succeed.

"Dieting is a skill, much like riding a bicycle, and requires practice and good instruction," said Bartfield in a statement. "You're going to fall over and feel frustrated, but eventually you will succeed and it will get easier."

Here are Bartfield's top four reasons why diets fail -- and how to avoid them:

1. Underestimating the number of calories consumed

Most people sabotage their weight loss efforts by underestimating their daily caloric intake, says Bartfield, a theory that builds on a steady stream of research. A study out of Cornell University, for example, found that overweight people underestimate the number of calories consumed by as much as 40 percent.

Bartfield suggests writing down everything you eat in a day, including drinks, snacks and ‘bites' of food to increase self-awareness. She also advises looking up nutritional information of favorite take-out meals before going out to eat.

2. Overestimating activity and calories burned

Typically you need to cut 500 calories per day to lose one pound (0.5 kg) per week.

This is very difficult to achieve through exercise alone, and would require 60 minutes or more of vigorous activity every day. A more attainable goal would be to try to increase activity throughout the day and get a total of 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise most days of the week.

Buy a pedometer and track your steps. Try to increase to a goal of 10,000 steps per day. But be careful -- exercise is not an excuse to eat more.

3. Poor timing of meals

When it comes to weight loss, timing is everything. Try not to go longer than five hours without eating a healthy snack, Bartfield advises.

Eat breakfast within one hour of waking up, and eat every three to four hours. That will keep the metabolism steady.

4. Inadequate sleep

People who get fewer than six hours of sleep have been shown to have higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates the appetite, particularly for high-carb, high-calorie foods, says Bartfield. Fatigue can also raise levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can lead to weight gain.

Source: Relaxnews