Medical organizations oppose Mercury ban in vaccines…q1
Representatives of 22 medical organizations have written to all members of Congress opposing efforts to ban the mercury-based preservative thimerosal from vaccines.
"Our organizations respectfully wish to state our opposition to all legislative efforts at the federal and state levels to restrict access to vaccines containing thimerosal, an ethylmercury-based preservative," said the letter dated April 3 from "Multiple National Organizations that Support Safe and Effective Vaccines."
The groups said that banning the preservative in vaccines for children and pregnant women -- as several states have done and legislation in Congress proposes -- would "perpetuate false and misleading information that vaccines are not safe. Parents may see the banning of thimerosal as an admission that vaccine safety oversight is inadequate." More…
Warren Matthews comments: This is a ‘hot’ topic! As far as I am concerned I would not agree to my grandchildren being given a vaccine containing thimerosal. There is just too much ‘smoke’ around concerning this issue, to risk jumping into the ‘fire’ and risking possible neurological problems. Vaccines do not need to contain thimerosal and not all of them do.
If you would like to know how much thimerosal is contained in a specific vaccine go to
http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm and you can see the amounts listed. This is a website set up by John Hopkins University.
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Omega-3s could stop liver cancer cells growth...q2
Omega-3 fatty acids could prevent or inhibit the growth of liver cancer cells, say researchers from the University of Pittsburgh at today’s annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to a wide-range of health benefits, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), good development of a baby during pregnancy, joint health, behaviour and mood, and certain cancers.
“It has been known for some time that omega-3 fatty acids can inhibit certain cancer cells. So, we were interested in determining whether these substances could inhibit liver cancer cells. If so, we also wanted to know by what mechanism this inhibition occurs,” explained lead researcher Tong Wu, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. More…
Warren Matthews comments: Seems like every week there is another study that comes out extolling the virtues of Omega 3’s. Remember though…that Omega 3’s like all other nutrients have to be kept in balance with your other nutrient intakes. In other words…more, is not necessarily better. We constantly have people asking if they can take higher doses of our Omega 3. Whereas it is OK to double the recommended daily dose of 2 soft gels, I personally don’t think that it is either necessary or desirable to go beyond that. Personally I take 3 soft gels per day.
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Hospitals groan under weight of heavy patients...q3
ST. LOUIS - Going to the hospital is rarely fun. If you weigh over 300 pounds like Beth Henk, it can be embarrassing. "I've flipped an exam table — I sat on the end of it and it just flipped up," said Henk, whose weight peaked at 745.
When her son was born three years ago, "I had to sit in the hospital bed the whole time — the hospital's rocker wouldn't fit my butt."
Today Henk helps Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis find better ways to deal with the growing number of very obese patients, an issue for many U.S. hospitals. Barnes-Jewish is replacing beds and wheelchairs with bigger models, widening doorways, buying larger CT scan machines, even replacing slippers and gowns. More…
Warren Matthews comments: This is a pretty sad story and reinforces just how serious the obesity epidemic is. Obese people make up a disproportionate section of hospital patients. Is there an easy solution? Sadly no! There are no miracle diets, potions or pills which will help obese people lose weight. The only solution is correct nutrition along with sensible exercise over an extended period of time. To hopefully help those people who need to lose weight I am about to start on an update of our weight loss report. With a bit of luck I will complete it by the middle of next month.
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Important notice: All material provided within XTEND-15sec-NEWS is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not to be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action should be taken solely on the contents of this publication. Consult your physician or a qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health and wellbeing or on any opinions expressed within this newsletter. The information provided in this newsletter is believed to be accurate based on the best judgment of the editor but the reader is responsible for consulting with their own health professional on any matters raised within.
The Age of Autism: Mercury ban opposedm1
By Dan Olmsted
Representatives of 22 medical organizations have written to all members of Congress opposing efforts to ban the mercury-based preservative thimerosal from vaccines.
"Our organizations respectfully wish to state our opposition to all legislative efforts at the federal and state levels to restrict access to vaccines containing thimerosal, an ethylmercury-based preservative," said the letter dated April 3 from "Multiple National Organizations that Support Safe and Effective Vaccines."
The groups said that banning the preservative in vaccines for children and pregnant women -- as several states have done and legislation in Congress proposes -- would "perpetuate false and misleading information that vaccines are not safe. Parents may see the banning of thimerosal as an admission that vaccine safety oversight is inadequate."
In fact, the letter said, "There has been considerable research on this issue since the 1999 precautionary statement of the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics and there is no documented scientific evidence that ethylmercury in the form of thimerosal in the doses administered in vaccines causes any risk to health."
The letter also cited concerns that bans could trigger "ongoing vaccine shortages or inability to deliver care. ... Limit the nation's inability to quickly administer influenza vaccine in the U.S. when a pandemic strikes. ... Lead to increased costs for vaccines. ... Add more complexity to our present vaccine delivery system. ... Profoundly affect global immunization programs, as do many U.S. vaccine policy decision."
At issue are concerns raised by parents and some scientists that increasing exposure to thimerosal in childhood vaccines during the 1990s may have triggered a huge rise in autism diagnoses. In 1999 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others recommended manufacturers phase out thimerosal as soon as possible to limit exposure.
In 2004 the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies said it found no connection and that future research should go to "more promising" areas.
Yet concerns have persisted, in part because some flu vaccines still contain thimerosal, and the CDC has recommended the vaccines for all pregnant women and for children ages 6 months to 5 years.
Those concerns have prompted several states -- including New York, Illinois, California, Iowa, Delaware and most recently Washington state -- to enact bans over the opposition of the CDC and state medical associations.
At the same time, pressure has mounted for more studies of potential health problems of thimerosal and vaccines in general. Last week U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said she will introduce a bill this month to force the federal government to study the autism rate in never-vaccinated American children.
In a letter to Congressional health policy staff that accompanied the groups' statement opposing a thimerosal ban, Diane C. Peterson of the Immunization Action Coalition said: "As you may be aware, recent media attention has been given to the role of thimerosal in vaccines and the development of autism. The 22 national organizations that have signed this letter, as well as many others, stand behind the enormous amount of scientific evidence that shows no link exists between thimerosal in vaccines and the development of autism.
"Please oppose all anti-thimerosal legislative proposals and help further (the) nation's work in protecting children and adults against vaccine-preventable diseases."
The signers include representatives of the following groups:
Ambulatory Pediatric Association; American Academy of Family Physicians; American Academy of Physician Assistants; American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology; American College of Preventive Medicine; American Liver Foundation; American Medical Directors Association; American Pharmacists Association; Association of Immunization Program Managers; Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists; Every Child by Two; Hepatitis B Foundation; Hepatitis Foundation International; Immunization Action Coalition; Infectious Diseases Society of America; National Coalition on Adult Immunization; National Foundation for Infectious Diseases; Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases; Pediatric Infectious Disease Society; Society for Adolescent Medicine; Society of Teachers of Family Medicine; Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060404-14014400-bc-ageofautism-crn.xml
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Omega-3s could stop liver cancer cells growthm2
By Stephen Daniells
4/3/2006 - Omega-3 fatty acids could prevent or inhibit the growth of liver cancer cells, say researchers from the University of Pittsburgh at today’s annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to a wide-range of health benefits, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), good development of a baby during pregnancy, joint health, behaviour and mood, and certain cancers.
“It has been known for some time that omega-3 fatty acids can inhibit certain cancer cells. So, we were interested in determining whether these substances could inhibit liver cancer cells. If so, we also wanted to know by what mechanism this inhibition occurs,” explained lead researcher Tong Wu, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Liver cancer is one of the rarer forms of the disease, accounting for about one per cent of all cancers. Worryingly, the risk of the disease increases with age, and rates have doubled since 1975, from two to four people per 100,000 people, according to Cancer Research UK.
The Pittsburgh scientists report the effects of omega 3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and the omega-6 fatty acid, arachidonic acid (AA), on liver cancer cells.
Both omega-3 fatty acids had a dose-dependent inhibitory effect, while the omega-6 acid had not effect, said the researchers.
Wu and colleagues found that DHA induced apoptosis, programmed cell death of the cancer cells, by promoting the splitting of a protein, called poly (ADP-Ribose) polymerase (PARP), which is considered a tell-tale marker of cell death.
Also, both DHA and EPA indirectly decreased the levels of a protein, beta-catein, which has been linked to tumour development.
“Beta-catenin is known to promote cell growth and also is implicated in tumor cell promotion. Therefore, our finding that omega-3 fatty acids can decrease levels of beta-catenin is further evidence that these compounds have the ability to interact on several points of pathways involved in tumor progression", said Wu.
A similar study was recently published on-line in the British Journal of Cancer (doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6603030), reporting the effects of EPA, DHA and AA, on the spread of human prostate cancer cell lines.
While both omega-3 fatty acids were reported to have beneficial effects on stopping the growth and spread of the prostate cancer cells, the omega-6 fatty acid was reported to produce a metabolite, prostaglandin E2, helped the spread of the prostate cancer cells to bone marrow cells.
The role of omega fatty acids in the prevention of cancer has received increased media attention in recent weeks after a British Medical Journal article published a meta-analysis reviewing the associations between omega-3 intake and the risk of heart disease, cancer and mortality.
The analysis reported that there was no indication that the fatty acids offered protection for any of the disease, conclusions that were rounded upon by industry groups.
Dr Ray Rice, a food scientist and technical adviser to the Omega 3 Group, a consortium of fish companies, hit back at the study, saying: “This report used a faulty technique. It is conceptually flawed and should not cause people to regard seafood as anything but tasty and nutritious.”
The studies by Wu and colleagues are presented as abstracts numbers 2679 and 2680.
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=66816&m=1NIU403&c=cujjvkirggyostq
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Hospitals groan under weight of heavy patientsm3
CT scans, slippers, even syringes getting bigger.
ST. LOUIS - Going to the hospital is rarely fun. If you weigh over 300 pounds like Beth Henk, it can be embarrassing. "I've flipped an exam table — I sat on the end of it and it just flipped up," said Henk, whose weight peaked at 745.
When her son was born three years ago, "I had to sit in the hospital bed the whole time — the hospital's rocker wouldn't fit my butt."
Today Henk helps Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis find better ways to deal with the growing number of very obese patients, an issue for many U.S. hospitals. Barnes-Jewish is replacing beds and wheelchairs with bigger models, widening doorways, buying larger CT scan machines, even replacing slippers and gowns.
Last year, patient care director Colleen Becker decided to check the numbers. She looked at a daily hospital census — about one-third of the 900 patients weighed 350 pounds or more.
Startled, Becker checked another date, then another. The numbers were consistent. On some days, half the patients were obese. Some weighed 500 pounds or more.
"We ran the data again to make sure we weren't hallucinating," Becker said. "We weren't. So we had to somehow figure out the appropriate supplies, equipment, training and care for the patients we're dealing with."
The answer was a "bariatric care team," which Henk serves on, to address the challenges posed by obese patients. Those challenges are many.
Hospitals around the nation are working with equipment suppliers to accommodate larger patients, said Elizabeth Lietz, a spokeswoman for the American Hospital Association. And it's not just for the patients.
Help and hoists for health care workers
ATF Healthcare, a union representing 70,000 nurses and other workers at hospitals in 18 states, last week called for new laws forcing hospitals to buy equipment such as portable hoists to prevent worker injuries.
A union-commissioned survey of more than 900 nurses and X-ray technicians found the majority have chronic pain or have suffered injuries from lifting and moving patients
At Barnes-Jewish, lift machines help some patients get in and out of bed. Chairs have been made stronger and wider. Lights have been added at floor level because the bodies of extremely obese people can cast a shadow that makes it hard to see the floor.
The hospital is replacing many of its beds — built to handle people weighing up to 350 pounds — with beds for 500-pound patients.
"Three-hundred-fifty pounds is nowhere near what we need for beds now," said Art Kidrow, a nurse manager at Barnes-Jewish. "We've had some 650-pounders up here."
Some wings of Barnes-Jewish are replacing 36-inch-wide doorways with those that are 48 or 52 inches wide. The bathrooms are being fitted with floor-mounted commodes that can't be pulled out of the wall, and rooms reconfigured so patients can essentially get out of bed and step into the bathroom.
Extra-large gowns and slippers
Gowns are bigger. Wheelchairs are wider. Even hospital-issued slippers come in extra-large sizes because the standard-issued footies were cutting off circulation for some patients.
Issues extend beyond the patient's room. Operating tables have been widened because the girth of some patients was lapping over the table, in some cases all the way to the floor, Becker said. CT scan machines weren't wide enough. Syringes with the longest available needles — 4 1/2 inches — couldn't penetrate the fat.
Along with doctors and nurses, the hospital's 30-member bariatric care team includes former patients like Henk and people from the hospital's engineering and housekeeping units.
Henk, 41, represents both patients and those who try to help the obese — she is program manager for Washington University's weight management program.
She's been heavy for as long as she can remember — she was in Weight Watchers by age 5. "Everybody in my family is at least 100 pounds overweight," she said.
Gastric bypass surgery seven years ago helped her shed some weight, but she's dropped to 315 pounds mostly through better eating and exercise.
Still, she knows what larger people go through at the hospital.
"I believe in dignity for whomever you are," Henk said. "It can be scary, too. If people are trying to lift you up and somebody doesn't have the strength, it's very scary."
Based on recommendations from the team, Barnes-Jewish has developed a protocol for lifting heavy patients.
The hospital is also working with suppliers. Manufacturers now offer more than 1,000 items specifically for obese patients, said Sandy Wise, of Novation LLC, a Texas-based company that provides contracting services between hospitals and manufacturers.
"It's been a trend probably for the last four or five years," Wise said. "Hospitals are continuing to see an increase in obese patients, and it affects every department. You have to think of the patient from head to toe, everything they do in the hospital until they walk out the door or they die."
In fact, Barnes-Jewish is striving to make even the end more dignified. Becker said the law requires a leak-proof body bag. Some patients were so large they wouldn't fit in them. The hospital is working with a vendor to develop a wider bag.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12099676/from/RS.1/
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