NEWS ARCHIVE

Heartfelt news on fitness, smoking and waistlines
Pharmacy News – Almost a third of coronary heart disease (CHD) events in men could be avoided if the patient is physically fit, does not smoke and has a normal waste girth, according to a large-scale study conducted in the United States.(Read more)

New VA patients younger, more likely to be women
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in this quiet, bucolic town tucked between coal country and the nation's capital used to go months without treating a female veteran. (Read More)

VA Struggles To Provide Better Care For Increasing Numbers Of Younger, Female Veterans
New patients using Veterans Affairs health services are more likely to be younger and women. The Associated Press reports on a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsville, W.Va., that is increasingly seeing women in their twenties who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Read More)

Why You May Need Cholesterol Drugs
Forbes - You're healthy, you're pretty thin, or at least not overweight, and you never thought your cholesterol was particularly high. Yet your doctor says you should consider taking a cholesterol-lowering drug. Welcome to a big and fast-growing club.  (Read more)

New Self-Assessment Tool for Undiagnosed Diabetes
(HealthDay News via Modern Medicine) – Researchers from Cornell University have developed a new risk-scoring model and simple self-assessment survey that can identify people who should be medically screened for diabetes, according to a study reported in the Dec. 1 Annals of Internal Medicine. (Read more)

Stroke and Heart Disease Trigger Revealed
Science Daily – Scientists have identified the trigger that leads to the arteries becoming damaged in the disease atherosclerosis, which causes heart attacks and strokes, in research published in the journal Circulation. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London, say their findings suggest that the condition could potentially be treated by blocking the molecule that triggers the damage. (Read more)

Cardiovascular Disease And Women: When Catching Up With The Guys Is Not A Good ThingHealthNewsDigest.com - While the exact mechanism is still unclear, it is well-known that estrogen protects women from developing certain types of heart disease. As such, pre-menopausal women tend to be at less risk than men of similar age, although recent studies show that the gap is narrowing. (Read more)

Tips for a healthy Thanksgiving: moderation and cranberries
The Independent, November 25, 2009 – Thanksgiving, a North American holiday usually associated with overeating, weight gain and general indulgence, could also provide an opportunity for healthful eating and even warding off infections. Full Story

One Step Closer to New Diabetes Treatment
The Palm Beach Post, November 25, 2009 – Mitochondrial damage causes people with type 2 diabetes to lose insulin-producing cells, a finding that could lead to new treatments, U.S. researchers say. Full Story

Foot ulcers: One of the many challenges of diabetics
The Medical News – Diabetics face many health challenges, and among them is the risk of developing foot ulcers. Full Story

Sitting all day can be hazardous to your health, and exercise doesn't help
Canwest News Service – We love to sit. Be it on a couch, in a car, at a desk, in front of a screen or at the dinner table, the average adult spends over 90% of his waking hours with his butt firmly ensconced in a chair. This society of sitters has prompted health experts to examine the consequences of going from the breakfast table, to the car, to a desk, back to the table and finally to the couch in front of the TV. What they found isn’t pretty. Full Story

From the Lab, a New Weapon Against Cholesterol
Nov. 23 - New York Times – The particles that ferry cholesterol through the bloodstream are popularly known as “bad” or “good”: bad if they deposit cholesterol on vessel walls, potentially clogging them; good if they carry the cholesterol on to the liver for excretion. Now scientists have created tiny particles in the laboratory that mimic those good carriers.  Full Story

High cholesterol too common in kids
Nov. 23 - South Jersey Courier-Post - A growing body of evidence suggests the beginnings of heart disease can start early. Yes, even young children may have high cholesterol. Full Story

Mental health experts mobilize against troops' trauma
Nov. 23 - USA Today  - Mental health experts who work with troops back from deployment talked this weekend about the latest efforts to treat disorders such as post-traumatic stress, efforts that are particularly relevant in light of the traumatic shootings at Fort Hood. Full Story

Q&A: Diabetes cases rising rapidly among adults
Nov. 23 - Springfield News-Leader – Diabetes cases are rising rapidly in the United States, with the disease afflicting 11.3 percent of American adults as of the third quarter of 2009, according to a new Gallup survey. Full Story

Crestor shows equal or better benefit to women
Nov. 19 - ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - A fresh look at data from a landmark study showed that AstraZeneca's powerful cholesterol fighter Crestor dramatically cut deaths, heart attacks and strokes in women at least as much as in men, providing new evidence of the drug's benefits in a previously understudied population. Full Story

VA adds three more diseases to Agent Orange 'presumptive' list
Eureka Times-Standard, Nov. 18 – The Department of Veterans Affairs recently added three more “presumed” illnesses associated with Agent Orange exposure both in and outside of Vietnam. Full Story

Smoking still a major health problem, despite well-known dangers
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 18 – More than 47 million adults and 4 million youth in the United States smoke cigarettes. Rates of smoking have dropped over the years, but the current statistics indicate that smoking is still a major health problem and cigarettes continue to cause chronic diseases and death.  Full Story

The Obese Don't Always Know It
FOX News, Nov. 18 – Some obese individuals don't realize they have a weight problem, a new study finds. That could be an unhealthy attitude as these same people tend not to exercise and have many risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Full Story

Statins may reduce severe H1N1 death risk
NASHVILLE, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers are studying statins, drugs that lower cholesterol, as a way to reduce H1N virus-related deaths. Full Story

Healthy Geezer
Nov. 18 - In last week’s column, I wrote about heart attack symptoms and what to do when you feel them. Today, we’ll discuss the causes of heart attack. Full Story

Maintaining Healthy Cholesterol Levels May Lower Risk of Prostate Cancer
Nov. 19 - (Health News) – Men who keep their cholesterol levels in check may decrease their chances of developing prostate cancer, in addition to keeping their heart healthy, as science has already shown. In fact, two recent studies indicate that maintaining healthy levels of cholesterol may be a good form of cancer prevention. Full Story

Statins Cut Blood Clot Risk
Nov. 19 – (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Statins may help reduce the risk of blood clots in patients with heart disease, new research shows. Full Story