No Firm Evidence Green Tea Helps Prevent Cancer

TUESDAY, July 21 (HealthDay News) -- Does drinking green tea really help prevent cancer? The answer is still unclear, according to a review of 51 previous studies done over two decades. The review, published online in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, found that green tea may offer some help against liver cancer, breast cancer and, in men, prostate cancer, but consumption may actually increase one's chances of developing urinary bladder cancer. Conflicting evidence was found in the case of gastrointestinal (esophagus, colon or pancreas) cancers, though the authors noted "limited moderate to strong evidence" of green tea protecting against lung, pancreatic and colorectal cancer."

"Despite the large number of included studies, the jury still seems to be out on the question of whether green tea can in fact prevent the development of various cancer types," lead review author Katja Boehm, a member of the Unconventional and Complementary Methods in Oncology Study Group in Nuremburg, Germany, said in a news release issued by the journal's publisher, The Cochrane Collaboration. The researchers reviewed studies involving more than 1.6 million people in Asia, where green tea consumption is a regular habit. Boehm said that variables in how much green tea people drink and how different cancers grow makes it difficult to find a conclusive relationship about whether green tea helps prevent cancer. "One thing is certain," she said, "Green tea consumption can never account for cancer prevention alone." (from Healthfinder)

Elder Boom Will Be Felt Worldwide

MONDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- The proportion of people who are age 65 and older will double from 7 to 14 percent of the world's total population by 2040, says a new U.S. Census Bureau study. The over-65 population worldwide will grow from 506 million as of last year to 1.3 billion in 30 years. The unprecedented rate of increase will present challenges and opportunities, according to the report, commissioned by the U.S. National Institute on Aging. And the number of people 100 and older -- centenarians -- has risen dramatically, from an estimated few thousand in 1950 to more than 340,000 worldwide today; the greatest numbers of centenarians are found in the United States and Japan, according to the latest Census Bureau figures.

"Aging is affecting every country in every part of the world," Richard Suzman, director of the behavioral and social research at the institute, said in an agency news release. "While there are important differences between developed and developing countries, global aging is changing the social and economic nature of the planet and presenting difficult challenges. The fact that, within 10 years, for the first time in human history there will be more people aged 65 and older than children under 5 in the world underlines the extent of this change."

The report, "An Aging World: 2008," can be found by clicking on this link.

Blood Rush to the Brain When Angry Is a Good Sign

FRIDAY, July 10 (HealthDay News) -- Anger and other forms of mental stress cause dilation of the neck's carotid arteries and a rush of blood to the brain in healthy people, but this doesn't occur in those with high blood pressure.

The participants included 30 healthy people and 28 with high blood pressure. In the healthy volunteers, mental stress caused dilation of the carotid arteries and increased blood flow to the brain. This response wasn't seen in those with high blood pressure. The absence of the required increase in blood flow to the brain during mental activities could affect cognition and cerebral activity during the performance of complex brain tasks, said the researchers from the University of Southern California and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, both in Los Angeles.

"Inappropriate vasoconstriction, or lack of dilation in response to mental stress in stable coronary heart disease, contributes to the genesis of myocardial ischemia and confers an increased risk in patients with coronary artery disease," researcher Tasneem Naqvi said in a news release. "It will be interesting to see whether the lack of mental stress-induced dilation we found defines subjects at increased risk of future cerebral events." The study was published online July 3 in the journal Cardiovascular Ultrasound.

How much does your patient know?

Health sites on the web score millions of hits but with what results? Knowledge of the location of key body organs among patients and the general public is limited, even those in which their medical problem is located. This has remained unchanged during the last 30 years, highlighting the need for physicians to avoid making assumptions about patient understanding during consultations.
This article in BMC Family Practice sounds a warning: "How accurate is patients' anatomical knowledge: a cross-sectional, questionnaire study of six patient groups and a general public sample"

Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy

Started in 2005, the peer-reviewed, open-access journal Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy (PCSP) provides "innovative, quantitative and qualitative knowledge about psychotherapy process and outcome, for both researchers and practitioners." The publication is sponsored by the Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, and first-time visitors can get a feel for their work by looking over the table of contents of the current issue on the right-hand side of their homepage.

Visitors should also feel free to browse through the archives, register to receive the latest edition of PCSP via email, and also learn about their submission policies. Additionally, visitors can also sign up for their RSS feed and create their own collection of PCSP articles. [KMG] FROM: The Scout Report -- July 24, 2009

New Weapons in Fight Against TB?

FRIDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- Extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis might someday meet its match in two drugs now used to treat Parkinson's disease, suggests a new study.
Researchers, led by a team from the University of California, San Diego, report in the July 3 issue of PLoS Computational Biology that commercially available entacapone and tolcapone have the potential to treat the difficult-to-kill strain of TB.

The discovery was made after a computational analysis that found the chemical structure of the two Parkinson's drugs might work to thwart the TB enzyme InhA, which previous research had determined to be a prime target in treating the disease. A subsequent lab experiment found that the active ingredient in the two drugs inhibited the M. tuberculosis bacterium without being deadly to its host cells.

About 2 million people each year die from extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis, which poses a worldwide threat. The study's lead author, graduate student Sarah L. Kinnings, said the lab experiment was just a step in the long process of possibly creating a new TB treatment.
"Given the continuing emergence of M. tuberculosis strains that are resistant to all existing, affordable drug treatments, the development of novel, effective and inexpensive drugs is an urgent priority," she said in the news release.

On Memory, Older Americans Outsmart the English

FRIDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- Older people in the United States scored better than their counterparts in England on a memory and awareness test, possibly because of differences in levels of depression and education and the fact that American adults receive more aggressive treatment for heart disease, a new study suggests.

On a 24-point scale assessing cognitive function, the American seniors scored an average of 12.8 and the English seniors averaged 11.4. That difference represents about 10 years of aging, the researchers said. That means that, on average, 75-year-old U.S. residents had memories as good as 65-year-olds who lived in England.

The findings appear online in the journal BMC Geriatrics. "Higher levels of education and net worth in the U.S. probably accounted for some of the better cognitive performance," study leader Kenneth Langa of the University of Michigan said in a news release from the journal's publisher. "Furthermore, U.S. adults reported significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than English adults." He added that the "better cognitive performance of U.S. adults was actually quite surprising since U.S. adults had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, which is generally associated with cognitive decline and poorer mental function." More aggressive treatment of cardiovascular disease in the United States might help explain the Americans' higher average score, Langa suggested.

Swine flu clinic opens - Lismore Hospital

A SWINE flu clinic has opened at Lismore Base Hospital as more people on the North Coast are attending local medical services with flu-like symptoms.
The new clinic was in response to the 'growing number of flu-like illnesses across Australia, and specifically Lismore, a spokesperson for the North Coast Area Health Service said.
“This will minimise the spread of influenza and allow the emergency department to focus on treating other patients needing emergency care,” the spokesperson said.
All patients arriving at the hospital will be screened by a nurse in a temporary facility at the front of the hospital to determine whether they will be directed to the flu clinic or emergency department. The clinic will open between noon and 6pm daily.
“Patients with flu-like symptoms can still present at emergency outside these hours, how- ever, if possible patients should attend within these hours to limit the exposure of other emergency patients and staff,” the spokesperson said.

Manual handling and bariatric patients

Manual handling risks associated with the care, treatment and transportation of bariatric (severely obese) patients in Australia is a report from the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) by Steve Cowley and Susan Leggett. In 2004-05, some 41% of adult males and 25% of females in Australia were classified as overweight (BMI of between 25 and 30) and 18% of males and 17% of females were classified as obese (BMI over 30). Some consider a person with a Body Mass Index (BMI) that exceeds 30 to be bariatric, or morbidly obese, but the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) defines morbid obesity as a BMI of more than 40. The number of persons who may be considered bariatric is not known.

This report looks at the implications severe obesity for workplace health and safety and workers’ compensation. "Morbidly obese patients are over represented in the use of healthcare. Further, there is a high mortality rate for these patients because of the patients’ delay in accessing treatment. It is possible that this delay may be in part due to there being limited capacity within institutions to manage care." Four case studies are documented for the ambulance, fire, hospital and funeral occupations, where specific issues and possible solutions are examined.

Health reform - final government report

If you've had time to glance at the newspaper this morning you will notice that A Healthier Future for All Australians : Final Report, has been released today by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, chaired by Dr Christine Bennett. 10 health experts have taken 16 months to compile 123 recommendations, arguing that "While the Australian health system has many strengths, it is a system under growing pressure, particularly as the health needs of our population change. We face significant challenges, including large increases in demand for and expenditure on health care, unacceptable inequities in health outcomes and access to services, growing concerns about safety and quality, workforce shortages, and inefficiency. Further, we have a fragmented health system with a complex division of funding responsibilities and performance accountabilities between different levels of government. It is ill-equipped to respond to these challenges."
The recommendations include a full Federal Government takeover of primary health care, basic dental care and aged care, and that Medicare undergoes sweeping reforms. There are also changes proposed in the way hospital services are funded, with the aim being that the Federal Government takes on the financial risks associated with growth in demand, and provides strong incentives for more efficient care.

Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing - latest issue

Some really interesting articles are available freely from AJAN in the June-August issue. For example, check out...

• Living the experience of breast cancer treatment: the younger women's perspective. Elisabeth Coyne, Sally Borbasi


• Staff perspectives of a cardiac short stay unit. Seshasayee Narasimhan, Katrina McKay


• Spirituality and spiritual engagement as perceived by palliative care clients and caregivers. Joy Penman, May Oliver, Ann Harrington.


• Predictors of nurses' commitment to health care organisations. Mahmoud Al-Hussami


• Nurse practitioners in drug and alcohol: where are they? Stephen Ling


• E-portfolios: developing nurse practitioner competence and capability. Debra Anderson, Glenn Gardner, Jo Ramsbotham, Megan Tones


• Comparison of the predictive validity among pressure ulcer risk assessment scales for surgical ICU patients. Eun-Kyung Kim, Sun-Mi Lee, Eunpyo Lee, Mi-Ran Eom
  

The Global War on Drugs : has the endgame started?

Dr Alex Wodak is the Director of Drug and Alcohol Services at St Vincents Hospital and President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation. Last week he presented a talk to the Lowy Institute about the international drug scene. When Nixon launched the War on Drugs in 1971, it was intended primarily as a political strategy - where it has often succeeded - rather than as a public policy - where it has failed. Significant health, social or economic benefits from the "War" are hard to identify. There have been no reductions in deaths, diseases, crime or corruption. Global drug production and consumption is increasing while retail price is decreasing and purity is increasing.
Dr Wodak's PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here:
The global war on drugs - PPT
His presentation can be heard here:
The global war on drugs - MP3

Training of Medical Practitioners

The Australian Parliamentary Library has just released a briefing paper by Dr Rhonda Jolly entitled, Medical Practitioners : education and training in Australia. Various government policies since the early 1990's have been implemented as a reaction to perceived oversupplies and shortages of trained doctors, such as capping the number of university places, addressing rural shortfalls in doctors with overseas recruitments and a more recent policy of creating more medical training opportunities.

The number of Commonwealth supported commencing places in medical courses in universities across Australia rose from 1403 in 2003 to an estimated 2544 in 2008. Jolly says that this change in policy direction will take a number of years to address current shortages due to the complexities of medical training. Her aim in this paper is to explain these complexities and why previous policies have often had a negative outcome. "Understanding better how the transformation from student to ‘specialist’ medical practitioner works and the roles of those institutions which contribute to, and influence that transformation may help to lessen the possibility that these types of negative outcomes unnecessarily beleaguer the health system."

Advanced Nursing Practice: a global perspective.

This is the title of an article in the latest issue of the Collegian by Christine Duffield et al. The authors have scoured the literature to look at the role and scope of Advanced Practice Nurses internationally. "There is a worldwide shortage of nurses but there is also an increased demand for nurses with enhanced skills who can manage a more diverse, complex and acutely ill patient population than ever before. As a result, a variety of nurses in advanced practice positions has evolved around the world. The differences in nomenclature have led to confusion over the roles, scope of practice and professional boundaries of nurses in an international context." The role of a Nurse Practitioner is gaining international parity, but other APN roles vary considerably between (and sometimes within) countries.
You can view the article here.

The latest Swine Flu research

The Medical Journal of Australia has just released for "rapid online publication" these two very recent articles on the H1N1 pandemic:

An editorial: "Understanding Australia’s influenza pandemic policy on the strategic use of the antiviral drug stockpile", by James M McCaw et al Med J Aust 13 July 2009

And some notable cases in, "Life-threatening respiratory failure from H1N1 influenza 09 (human swine influenza)", by Melissa A Kaufman, et al. Med J Aust 13 July 2009.

Indigenous Palliative Care

A new web resource containing information for people working, studying or interested in palliative care for Indigenous Australians is now available. This web resource includes information about relevant policies and strategies, publications, information about programs and projects (including contact details), relevant health promotion resources and organisations addressing the palliative care needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The above resource is one of a number of new features on the very useful Australian Indigenous HealthInfonet site from the Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research at
Edith Cowan University.
Post redirected from GWAHS Libraries Blog

How to webcast lectures and conferences

This is the title of an article published in the British Medical Journal earlier this year, written by three British cardiologists, "without remarkable pre-existing internet skills". It describes how doctors (and others) with little technological experience can go about recording lectures and conferences online. As the authors say, "Being unable to attend a key talk or conference can be frustrating. But it is now technically straightforward, with computer software, for anyone to record presentations as a movie for permanent access on the internet. Such recordings can act as an invaluable library and learning resource long after the event is over. They greatly increase the potential reach of a message, aiding medical education, research, and the originators—think YouTube for medicine—as well as potentially reducing the relative carbon footprint and cost of medical education."

General Practice report

The AIHW has just released its report, General Practice in Australia, health priorities and policies 1998 to 2008. It looks extensively changes in the activities of GPs from in those years in the light of numerous government initiatives and changes in the GP workforce and in the population. "It shows that GP activity generally correlates well with health policy initiatives and clinical guidelines, notably with Type 2 diabetes and the control of asthma and high blood cholesterol levels." Some possible concerns are also raised about the costs incurred for pathology testing and the challenges in dealing with an ageing population.

Memory boosters for medical info

A great site for studying for those tricky medical and nursing exams is The World's Database of Medical Mnemonics, medicalmnemonics.com. The Lancet reviewed the site with a couple of examples of content: "'With vomiting, both the pH and food come up. With diarrhea, both the pH and food go down.' How to remember the path of sperm in the male reproductive tract? 'SEVEN UP': seminiferous tubules, epididymis, vas deferens, ejaculatory duct, nothing, urethra, penis. These and many more amusing mnemonics await users of the Medical Mnemonics database..."
You can add your own mnemonics to the database, or search hundreds of different mnemonics in 36 categories from Anatomy to Urology. You can even download the database to your pda or palm pilot.

Breastfeeding outcomes

Breastfeeding and Infants' Time Use is the title of a paper by Jennifer Baxter and Julie Smith from the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The reasons why breastfeeding seems to improve developmental outcomes remain unclear. This paper looks at the hypothesis that breastfed infants may spend their time differently to infants who are not breastfed.

The results of the authors' analysis show that breastfed infants spend more time being held and being read or talked to, and less time sleeping, eating and drinking. They also cried slightly more, and watched television slightly less than infants who were not being breastfed. Those who breastfed spent more time with their parents, and in particular, almost one additional hour a day alone with their mother compared to non-breastfeeding infants. The cognitive advantages this time use may or may not have is posed as a question for future research.

Online clinic for mental health

Virtual Clinic is a joint project from St Vincent's Hospital Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression (CRUfAD) and the School of Psychiatry at UNSW. It is an online resource aiming to develop and provide free education and treatment programs for people with anxiety and depressive disorders who cannot readily access face to face treatment. Currently the site includes programs for anxiety, social phobia, depression and panic disorder. People need to register for the programs which involve online tutorials, homework assignments, online forums and regular contact with a Psychiatrist or Psychologist.

Health literacy in Australia

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has issued a Health Literacy report as part of it's latest issue of Australia's Social Trends. Health literacy is the ability of consumers to access and use health information, and it is an important skill in allowing people to maintain their basic health. "Adequate levels of health literacy may help to reduce some of the costs in the health system, prevent illness and chronic disease, and reduce the rates of accident and death."

The report is the result of a survey conducted in 2006, which showed that 41% of adults were considered to have at least adequate health literacy skills. 19% of adults had the lowest level of these skills, meaning that they had difficulty with tasks such as locating information on a bottle of medicine about the maximum number of days the medicine could be taken, or drawing a line on a container indicating where one-third would be. Older and less well-educated people had a lower level of health literacy.