http://www.cbs42.com/content/health/default.aspx Health and Medical stories from CBS 42 News. en-us Copyright 2012 Copyright WIAT All rights reserved. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:01 -0600 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:48:10 -0600 Health /content/images/cbs42-rrs.jpg http://www.cbs42.com/content/health/default.aspx 143 93 15 http://www.cbs42.com:80/content/health/story/Bedbug-Awareness-Training/ucURl5mhH0uUlkgUSzR6Ww.cspx?rss=1672 http://www.cbs42.com/s/ucURl5mhH0uUlkgUSzR6Ww.cspx TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WIAT) - Bedbugs, the nighttime bloodsuckers, could be sharing your mattress right now, and you may not even know it.  Jake Herring with Bama Exterminating Company explains that the bug's bite doesn't always affect people the same way, so looking for a line of red bumps isn't always the best way to detect the problem.  Herring says that the bugs are also smaller than a dime, nocturnal, and know just where to hide during the day to avoid detection.  The young bedbugs that have not yet fed on blood can be almost completely clear.  Herring says they will darken to a deeper brownish-red after feeding, and that they can survive up to one year between feedings.  Exterminators believe a bedbug infestation can double within thirteen days.  The bugs are also notorious hitchhikers, travelling from one place to another on someone's clothing or pet and creating a new infestation. 

That's why Herring and the other employees of Bama Exterminating Company are excited to have a unique training opportunity.  Using zipping bedbug mattress covers, they were able to transfer a live infestation from a Tuscaloosa home to their offices.  The infestation is contained to two mattresses that employees plan to use to train their exterminators.  Herring says the company wants to take the program even further by using the mattress to teach property managers and group homes and assisted living facilities more about bedbugs.  Exterminators believe early detection is the key to prevent an infestation from spreading.  Using the infested mattress, they can point out live bugs, eggs, and the types of things a bedbug will leave behind when they go into hiding like blood spots and fecal matter. ]]> WIATHealthWatch Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:33:40 -0600 Bedbug Awareness Training http://www.cbs42.com:80/content/health/story/Comparing-Identical-Twins-DNA-Reveals-Mechanics/30JNSNfjUEW_BAep-npwMg.cspx?rss=1672 http://www.cbs42.com/s/30JNSNfjUEW_BAep-npwMg.cspx BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Ivanhoe Newswire) James D. Watson, Frances Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for their discovery of the structure of DNA. Using x-ray diffraction data, they found that the structure of the DNA molecule was shaped like a double helix or spiral staircase. Today, researchers continue their efforts in understanding DNA.

Researchers at Uppsala University collaborated with others, from Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology, as well as Karolinska Institutet and other research centers found in the United States, Poland, the Netherlands, and Norway, to compare the DNA of identical twins. Their goal was to better understand the mechanics behind why the immune system becomes impaired with age.

During a person's life, continuous alterations in the cells' DNA occur. The alterations can be changes to the individual building blocks of the DNA but more common are rearrangements where large DNA segments change place or direction, or are duplicated or completely lost.

In this study, led by Uppsala University, the scientists examined normal blood cells from identical (monozygotic) twins in different age groups and looked for large or smaller DNA rearrangements. They discovered that large rearrangements were only present in the group older than 60 years. The most common rearrangement was that a DNA region, for instance a part of a chromosome, had been lost in some of the blood cells. Certain, almost identical, rearrangements were found in several individuals and some of these could be correlated with a known blood disease in which the bone marrow's capacity to produce new blood cells is disturbed. Rearrangements were also found in the younger age group. The changes were smaller and less complex but the researchers could also show that the number of rearrangements correlated with age.

Out of the cell types in blood only white blood cells contain DNA. The researchers believe that the increased number of cells with DNA alterations among elderly can have a role in the senescence of the immune system. If the genetic alterations lead to an increased growth of the cells that have acquired them, these cells will increase in number in relation to other white blood cells. The consequence might be a reduced diversity among the white blood cells and thereby an impaired immune system.

“We were surprised to find that as many as 3.5 percent of healthy individuals older than 60 years carry such large genetic alterations,” said Jan Dumanski, professor at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University. “We believe that what we see today is only the tip of the iceberg and that this type of acquired genetic variation might be much more common.”

SOURCE: Uppsala University, February, 2012


]]> WIATHealthWatch Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:33:11 -0600 http://www.cbs42.com:80/content/health/story/Childhood-Infections-Increase-Risks-of-Stroke/aKm3uIN1SUCzjaeMLNVR3A.cspx?rss=1672 http://www.cbs42.com/s/aKm3uIN1SUCzjaeMLNVR3A.cspx BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Stroke is the third leading cause of death, as well as the leading cause of serious disability among adults. Strokes are unbiased; they can touch anyone at any time, regardless of age, race, or gender; which means children can also be affected.

“The incidence of stroke in childhood is about five per 100,000 in the United States each year,” said Heather Fullerton, M.D., the study’s principal investigator and director of the Pediatric Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease Center at the University of California in San Francisco. Fullerton and her colleagues conducted the first study that established the relationship between infection and stroke in children.

Researchers analyzed diagnostic and radiologic databases of children enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente healthcare plan from 1993 to 2007. They evaluated medical records and chart reviews for infections during the two years prior to the childhood stroke, and the same time period for the age-matched controls.

The children with stroke ranged from infants to adolescents. The average age was ten and a half—the oldest child was 19. Researchers identified three stroke-free controls per case. Findings between girls and boys or ethnic groups didn't differ.

In a review of 2.5 million children, the researchers identified 126 childhood ischemic stroke cases and then randomly selected 378 age-matched controls from the remaining children without stroke. They discovered that 29 percent of those who suffered a stroke had a medical encounter for infection in the two days preceding the stroke versus one percent of controls during the same dates.

They also discovered that most of the previously healthy children with an ischemic stroke had a disease of the blood vessels to the brain, and these children were at a much higher risk of having a recurrent stroke.


Fullerton and her team believe that this study may provide some insight into why children develop this arteriopathy: the inflammatory process that results from an infection which may lead to stroke by causing vascular injury, researchers said.

The standard treatment for ischemic stroke in children is blood thinners. But the study suggests that future research should focus on the potential role for anti-inflammatory medications in preventing the recurrence of stroke in this population.

"Childhood infections are exceedingly common, while childhood strokes are uncommon," Fullerton was quoted as saying. "Parents should not be alarmed at the findings of this study. We suspect that there are rare genetic factors that may place some children at risk for this uncommon effect of common infections."

SOURCE: American Heart Association, February, 2012

]]> WIATHealthWatch Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:31:47 -0600 http://www.cbs42.com:80/content/health/story/Unexplained-Strokes/YVx1QPkyxECZPalsvnLswQ.cspx?rss=1672 http://www.cbs42.com/s/YVx1QPkyxECZPalsvnLswQ.cspx BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Ivanhoe Newswire)-- A whopping one out of every three stroke survivors leave the hospital without knowing the cause of their stroke.

Irregular heart rhythms appear to cause about one-fifth of strokes for which a cause is known.

"Identifying and treating these patients for irregular rhythm could reduce the recurrence of stroke by 40 percent compared to reducing the risk by treating them with aspirin," Daniel J. Miller, M.D., the study's first author and a senior staff neurologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, was quoted as saying; "The cause doesn't make a difference if there isn't a treatment, and recently two new medications – dabigatran and rivaroxaban – have been approved by the FDA to treat this problem."

A study confirmed a report from 2008 that discovered 23 percent of individuals whose heart rhythms were measured by automated monitors for 21 days had intermittent, or paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). Episodes of PAF can last for a few seconds or a few days.

The study suggested that erratic heart beats of less that half a minute may indicate extended episodes of PAF that lead to acute blood clotting in a patient's heart with otherwise unknown causes for their stroke. Since the study, doctors have argued the importance of PAF to their patients.

Miller and his team examined medical records of 156 patients who had undergone monitoring no more then six months after a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). Ninety-seven percent were not taking any prescription anticoagulation medications.

Of the total patients, 27 had one or more PAF episodes during monitoring and the number increased greatly over time. 3.9 percent of the patients experienced an episode of PAF, in the first 2 days. The percentage rose to 9.2 percent after one week, 15.1 percent at two weeks and 19.5 percent by three weeks, after accounting for those that had stopped monitoring early.

Patients identified at study entry with premature atrial contractions — the most common type of erratic heartbeats — were 13.7 times more likely to have PAF than those without the rhythm problems. "That's a very high risk," Miller said.

Excluding TIA patients, the presence of premature atrial contractions in stroke survivors increased their risk of PAF to 17 times. Each one level increase in a patient's National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale increased the risk of AF by 20 percent. The 42 point scale provides physicians a standardized method to assess a patient's stroke-induced impairment.

"Patients with stroke of unknown origin should have at least 21 days of MCOT monitoring to reliably detect paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in order to reduce their risk of future stroke," Miller said.

SOURCE: American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012, February 2, 2012

]]> WIATHealthWatch Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:30:17 -0600 http://www.cbs42.com:80/content/health/story/Ultrasound-Helps-with-Male-Birth-Control/xPPaUCEf7E2SHA1XhlCu2g.cspx?rss=1672 http://www.cbs42.com/s/xPPaUCEf7E2SHA1XhlCu2g.cspx BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Ivanhoe Newswire)--The perfect male birth control contraceptive would be cheap, reliable, and reversible. It would have few side effects and would be long lasting. A new study used therapeutic ultrasound equipment in the sperm count reduction of male rats to levels which would result in infertility in humans.

Ultrasound's capabilities as a male contraceptive were first acknowledged almost 40 years ago. Although the equipment used back then is now outdated and no longer around, researchers from the Department of Pediatric at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine were able to use the experiments done as a starting point to examine whether or not modern ultrasound equipment used for physical therapy could also be used as a male contraceptive.

James Tsuruta and his team found that by rotating high frequency (3MHz) ultrasound around the testes they were able to cause steady decreases of sperm cells throughout the testes. The best results occurred two days apart while using two sessions consisting of 15 minutes ultrasound. Saline was used to provide conduction between the ultrasound transducer and skin, and the testes were warmed to 37 degrees centigrade. Combined, this reduced sperm to a Sperm Count Index of zero (3 million motile sperm per cauda epididymis).

The World Health Organization has defined oligospermia (low sperm concentration) as less than 15 million sperm per ml. Dr Tsuruta was quoted as saying, "Unlike humans, rats remain fertile even with extremely low sperm counts. However, our non-invasive ultrasound treatment reduced sperm reserves in rats far below levels normally seen in fertile men (95% of fertile men have more than 39 million sperm in their ejaculate). However further studies are required to determine how long the contraceptive effect lasts and if it is safe to use multiple times."

SOURCE: Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology, January 29, 2012

]]> WIATHealthWatch Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:22:48 -0600 http://www.cbs42.com:80/content/health/story/Protein-Linked-to-Alzheimers-May-Affect-Healthy/Khl9jGaXo0i1v0kEpg_ivw.cspx?rss=1672 http://www.cbs42.com/s/Khl9jGaXo0i1v0kEpg_ivw.cspx BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Ivanhoe Newswire)-- A recent study showed that the protein beta-amyloid which is found in the brain and associated with Alzheimer's disease may even affect the mental function in healthy individuals.

"In our study, we observed that even in adults with apparently good cognitive health, increasing amounts of beta-amyloid in the brain are related to subtle changes in memory and mental function," Denise C. Park, PhD, study author, of the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas at Dallas, was quoted as saying.
The study consisted of 137 individuals between the ages of 30 and 89 who were well educated and free of dementia. The participants underwent brain scans and were tested for the APOE gene which had been associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease.

The study showed that the amount of beta-amyloid in people's brains increased with age and approximately 20 percent of adults age 60 and older had much higher percentages of beta-amyloid. Increased amounts of beta-amyloid found on brain scans were linked with lower test scores associated with working memory reasoning and speed of processing information.

The group with higher levels of beta-amyloid showed that 38 percent of individuals had the Alzheimer's risk allele of the APOE gene compared to 15 percent of those who did not have higher levels of beta-amyloid.
"A key question for future research is whether some adults with high levels of beta-amyloid will maintain good mental function for a long period of time and whether higher beta-amyloid deposits in healthy adults always predetermines cognitive decline," Park said.

SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology, February 1, 2012

]]> WIATHealthWatch Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:21:42 -0600 http://www.cbs42.com:80/content/health/story/Sleep-Apnea-Ups-Risk-of-Silent-Strokes-and-Brain/Y6wCT3YthkW38r9qN5SbHw.cspx?rss=1672 http://www.cbs42.com/s/Y6wCT3YthkW38r9qN5SbHw.cspx BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Here’s an eye-opener for those suffering from severe sleep apnea. It may increase your risk of silent strokes and lesions in the brain.

People with sleep apnea often experience a lack of oxygen reaching the brain, as well as, other parts of the body. Stokes occurs when blood—supplied by oxygen—doesn’t flow properly to the brain. “We found a surprisingly high frequency of sleep apnea in patients with stroke that underlines its clinical relevance as a stroke risk factor," said Jessica Kepplinger, M.D., the study's lead researcher and stroke fellow in the Dresden University Stroke Center's Department of Neurology at the University of Technology in Dresden, Germany.

Patients for this study underwent overnight in-hospital testing for sleep apnea. The participants were white with an average age of 67 and 54 percent of them were women. Magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography was used to determine silent strokes and white matter lesions within the volunteers. Kepplinger and her colleagues found that ninety-one percent (51 of 56) of the patients who had a stroke had sleep apnea and were more likely to have silent strokes and white matter lesions that increased their risk of disability at hospital discharge. They also discovered more than one-third of the patients with white matter lesions had severe sleep apnea and more than 50 percent of the silent stroke patients had sleep apnea. Even though men were more likely to have silent infarctions, correlations between sleep apnea and silent infarcts remained the same after adjustment for such gender differences.

Researchers suggested that sleep apnea should be treated the same as other vascular risk factors such as high blood pressure. Kepplinger and her team plan to do more studies on sleep apnea, particularly in high-risk patients with silent strokes and white matter lesions, to determine the impact of non-invasive ventilation and on short-term clinical outcome.

SOURCE: American Heart Association, February, 2012

]]> WIATHealthWatch Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:20:16 -0600 http://www.cbs42.com:80/content/health/story/Surviving-A-Stroke/OTF4ya6EnkSz4Kqp7BmF_A.cspx?rss=1672 http://www.cbs42.com/s/OTF4ya6EnkSz4Kqp7BmF_A.cspx Birmingham, AL (WIAT) -- More women die of heart disease than all forms of cancer combined, but it is the silent killer.  It isn't as easy to see because many are not aware of the symptoms and ways they can prevent it from impacting their lives.

Wanda Dickens is a stroke survivor from the Birmingham area.  Stroke and heart disease go hand in hand because they share many of the same risk factors.  If you have heart disease you have twice the risk of stroke than those who don't have the disease.  Wanda didn't have heart disease, but she did have some symptoms.  She ignored the symptoms because she thought this would never happen  to her.  Hear her complete story in this interview with Wake Up Alabama's Kalee Dionne.

]]> WIATHealthWatch Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:17:06 -0600 Surviving A Stroke http://www.cbs42.com:80/content/health/story/Menopause-Myths/9ZBJ_ZmcYEmFsVGoDu8l-g.cspx?rss=1672 http://www.cbs42.com/s/9ZBJ_ZmcYEmFsVGoDu8l-g.cspx By the Numbers: 8 STEPS TOWARDS A MENOPAUSE MAKEOVER

                              
 "I feel good about myself. I'm healthy. I feel sexy. I married a younger man."
Staness Jonekos, Author


MENOPAUSE MADNESS!

HEATING UP WITH HOT FLASHES? From hot flashes, to mood swings, to anxiety, menopause affects every woman differently.  When menstruation stops, the body goes through changes that no longer allow her to get pregnant. Not only do the symptoms of menopause vary, there are also different types of menopause a woman can face. Here are some extra tidbits on the types of madness we call menopause!

PREMATURE MENOPAUSE:
This type of menopause begins before the age of 40. It can be natural or induced
In the U.S, the average age of onset for natural menopause is 51 years old.
In addition to dealing with hot flashes, mood swings, and other symptoms, many women undergoing premature menopause have to cope with other physical and emotional concerns like infertility vaginal dryness, bladder irritability, dry skin, eyes, or mouth, sleeplessness, and decreased sex drive (Source: WebMD)

SURGICAL MENOPAUSE & INDUCED MENOPAUSE:
Surgical treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and the removal of ovaries, can cause women to go into induced menopause. Women often experience more severe menopausal symptoms than if they were to experience menopause naturally. (Source: WebMD)

POSTMENOPAUSE:
The years after menopause are called postmenopause. A woman is considered to be postmenopausal when she has not had her period for an entire year. The possibility of pregnancy usually disappears once you have been without your period for a year. Having your doctor measure your follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level is another way to help confirm if you are postmenopausal. Your FSH levels will rise as your ovaries begin to shut down. These levels are easily checked through one blood test. (Source: WebMD)

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