Thanks for all of the information on transdermal magnesium.

        In the mid-Nineties I was working at the Autism Research Institute. The director, Bernie Rimland, thought--correctly--that computers were huge time sinks and he hired me to handle computer-related issues. One of my jobs was to monitor emails and the relevant Usenet groups (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet). I scanned and/or read hundreds of autism-related messages a day. I printed the most interesting items and gave them to Dr. Rimland.

        One day I read a message from the mother of an autistic child who was also the chief caregiver for her father, who had Alzheimer's disease. She said that she put magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) in her father's bath water to calm him down. After a few days she noticed that during his bath, he would be relatively lucid, at least lucid enough to discuss family history and business. She started putting Epsom salts in her autistic child's bathwater, and the child's behavior and speech improved during the baths, and for a while afterward. Other mothers tried the same experiment and reported similar results with their autistic children.

        The next time I had a migraine headache, I sprinkled a cup of Epsom salts into a tub of hot water and started soaking myself. Within fifteen minutes my migraine receded. After that, I kept Epsom salts with me wherever I went. No matter where I was when a migraine started, even driving across the Mojave Desert, I would stop, wet my arms, and rub Epsom salts on my arms. It worked as well as sitting in a tub of water.

        Later, my daughter found an easier way to stop a migraine--drink a regular Coke.

        I found that soaking in a tub of water with Epsom salts in it, or rubbing the salts on my arms, would stop my atrial fibrillations (afibs) and save me a trip to the emergency room. My afibs became chronic in 2005, and you can't go through life with Epsom salts caked on your arms. :-)

        Judy mentioned magnesium oil--I had never heard of it before. Where do you get it, or how do you make it?  Russ www.polymicrobial.com

----- Original Message -----

From: Evan Jones

To: infection-cortisol@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, May 07, 2012 7:05 AM

Subject: [infection-cortisol]

Many magnesium deficient people cannot get enough Mg via the gut.
 if they take more than just a little, they get watery stools.

 There is a valley in Australia's Snowy Mountains where the groundwater
 has high levels of magnesium bicarbonate; the livestock there live 20%
 longer than average. Unfortunately MgCO3 can only exist in liquid
 form. (Though you can make your own).

 Dr Sarah Myhill, the Welsh GP who specialises in treating CFS
 patients, reports good success giving magnesium sulphate (i.e. epsom
 salts) rectally.
http://drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Magnesium_Per_Rectum

 Transdermal Mg is easy and cheap, though you do end up feeling a bit
 sticky. Apply it when you are ready to rest and you will doze off into
 the most relaxing nap. The mixture should have such a high
 concentration of Mg that it feels oily. Rub a few teaspoons of Mg
 water over large areas of bare skin and keep rubbing until it dries.

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/infection-cortisol/

---

From: Paula Carnes <pj7@...>
To: infection-cortisol@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 8:33 AM
Subject: Re: [infection-cortisol] Autism, migraines, and magnesium

 

Russ, thanks for sharing this fascinating information. I do have a question. Why would a regular Coke work? What's in it besides high fructose corn syrup?

Paula

On May 9, 2012, at 5:29 AM, Russell Farris wrote:

 

Thanks for all of the information on transdermal magnesium.

        In the mid-Nineties I was working at the Autism Research Institute. The director, Bernie Rimland, thought--correctly--that computers were huge time sinks and he hired me to handle computer-related issues. One of my jobs was to monitor emails and the relevant Usenet groups (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet). I scanned and/or read hundreds of autism-related messages a day. I printed the most interesting items and gave them to Dr. Rimland.

        One day I read a message from the mother of an autistic child who was also the chief caregiver for her father, who had Alzheimer's disease. She said that she put magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) in her father's bath water to calm him down. After a few days she noticed that during his bath, he would be relatively lucid, at least lucid enough to discuss family history and business. She started putting Epsom salts in her autistic child's bathwater, and the child's behavior and speech improved during the baths, and for a while afterward. Other mothers tried the same experiment and reported similar results with their autistic children.

        The next time I had a migraine headache, I sprinkled a cup of Epsom salts into a tub of hot water and started soaking myself. Within fifteen minutes my migraine receded. After that, I kept Epsom salts with me wherever I went. No matter where I was when a migraine started, even driving across the Mojave Desert, I would stop, wet my arms, and rub Epsom salts on my arms. It worked as well as sitting in a tub of water.

        Later, my daughter found an easier way to stop a migraine--drink a regular Coke.

        I found that soaking in a tub of water with Epsom salts in it, or rubbing the salts on my arms, would stop my atrial fibrillations (afibs) and save me a trip to the emergency room. My afibs became chronic in 2005, and you can't go through life with Epsom salts caked on your arms. :-)

        Judy mentioned magnesium oil--I had never heard of it before. Where do you get it, or how do you make it?  Russ www.polymicrobial.com

----- Original Message -----

From: Evan Jones

To: infection-cortisol@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, May 07, 2012 7:05 AM

Subject: [infection-cortisol]

Many magnesium deficient people cannot get enough Mg via the gut.
 if they take more than just a little, they get watery stools.

 There is a valley in Australia's Snowy Mountains where the groundwater
 has high levels of magnesium bicarbonate; the livestock there live 20%
 longer than average. Unfortunately MgCO3 can only exist in liquid
 form. (Though you can make your own).

 Dr Sarah Myhill, the Welsh GP who specialises in treating CFS
 patients, reports good success giving magnesium sulphate (i.e. epsom
 salts) rectally.
http://drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Magnesium_Per_Rectum

 Transdermal Mg is easy and cheap, though you do end up feeling a bit
 sticky. Apply it when you are ready to rest and you will doze off into
 the most relaxing nap. The mixture should have such a high
 concentration of Mg that it feels oily. Rub a few teaspoons of Mg
 water over large areas of bare skin and keep rubbing until it dries.

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/infection-cortisol/

MONDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) -- Depression or anxiety affect one-third of Americans with arthritis who are aged 45 or older, a new study shows.

Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found that even though anxiety is nearly twice as common as depression among people with arthritis, doctors tend to focus more on depression in these patients.

The study included nearly 1,800 people with arthritis or other rheumatic conditions who took part in the CDC's Arthritis Conditions and Health Effects Survey. Among the study participants, 31 percent reported anxiety and 18 percent reported depression.

One-third of the patients reported at least one of the two conditions and 84 percent of those with depression also had anxiety. Only half of those with anxiety or depression sought mental health treatment in the previous year, according to the study, which was published in the April 30 issue of the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

"Given their high prevalence and the effective treatment options that are available, we suggest that all people with arthritis be screened for anxiety and depression," study leader Dr. Louise Murphy, of the Arthritis Program at the CDC, said in a journal news release.

"With so many arthritis patients not seeking mental health treatment, health care providers are missing an intervention opportunity that could improve the quality of life for those with arthritis," she added.

In the United States, 27 million people age 25 and older have osteoarthritis, and 1.3 million adults have rheumatoid arthritis, according to the American College of Rheumatology.

MONDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) -- Exercise can slow muscle wasting, boost strength and reduce inflammation caused by aging and heart failure, a new study confirms.

In heart failure -- also called congestive heart failure -- the heart doesn't pump blood well enough to meet the body's needs. About 5.7 million adult Americans have heart failure, according to the American Heart Association.

One expert not connected with the study said interventions that work are needed.

"Heart failure, which is a debilitating, chronic condition often associated with multiple hospitalizations, and is a financial burden on our health care system, may improve with exercise," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Recommendations to treat heart failure should clearly include an exercise component, as the benefits are those that can help improve the clinical status in these otherwise sick patients," she said.

The new study included 60 heart failure patients and 60 healthy people who did either four weeks of supervised aerobic training or no exercise. Half of the participants were 55 and younger and half were 65 and older.

The exercise group undertook four 20-minute training sessions per day, five days a week. They also did one 60-minute group exercise session that focused on muscle endurance and oxygen uptake (a measure of aerobic endurance).

Among heart failure patients who exercised, those aged 55 and younger increased their peak oxygen uptake by 25 percent and those aged 65 and older increased it by 27 percent.

According to Steinbaum, those finding demonstrate that "these beneficial effects [of exercise] are not age-dependent."

The study also found that the exercise program slowed muscle wasting in the heart failure patients and improved their leg muscle strength and overall exercise capacity, regardless of age.

The findings suggest that exercise benefits even elderly heart failure patients, the researchers said.

The study appears May 7 in the journal Circulation.

"Many physicians -- and insurance companies -- still believe that cardiac rehabilitation does not really help in old age. This study clearly falsifies this belief," lead co-author Dr. Stephan Gielen, deputy director of cardiology at the University Hospital, Martin Luther University of Halle, Germany, said in a journal news release.

"Exercise switches off the muscle-wasting pathways and switches on pathways involved in muscle growth, counteracting muscle loss and exercise intolerance in heart failure patients," he explained.

---

From: Russell Farris <russ@...>
To: infection-cortisol <infection-cortisol@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 3:16 PM
Subject: [infection-cortisol] Heart Failure & Exercise

 

I'm often annoyed by studies that tell us that exercise is good for us. In most cases, the researchers are only reporting that healthy people like to exercise and therefore do more of it. The study below, however, is an intervention study in which some people exercised and others didn't. The exercise appeared to help the subjects.

        I'm interested in heart failure because my doctors keep me heavily drugged to induce an artificial (iatrogenic) state of chronic heart failure. They do this to reduce my chances of having another hemorrhagic stroke. I'm pretty sure this is a bad idea, but I'm not sure enough to stop taking the drugs.

        The abstract (link at bottom) mentions a protein I had never heard of called ubiquitin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitin). It sounds important, and it's been known for a long time. Things like ubiquitin keep me humble--they remind me of how many things I don't know. :-)  Russ www.polymicrobial.com

=================

Exercise Can Help Fight Heart Failure

Small study found it slowed muscle wasting, boosted fitness

By Robert Preidt

Monday, May 7, 2012   Exercise and Physical Fitness  Heart Failure

MONDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) -- Exercise can slow muscle wasting, boost strength and reduce inflammation caused by aging and heart failure, a new study confirms.

In heart failure -- also called congestive heart failure -- the heart doesn't pump blood well enough to meet the body's needs. About 5.7 million adult Americans have heart failure, according to the American Heart Association.

One expert not connected with the study said interventions that work are needed.

"Heart failure, which is a debilitating, chronic condition often associated with multiple hospitalizations, and is a financial burden on our health care system, may improve with exercise," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Recommendations to treat heart failure should clearly include an exercise component, as the benefits are those that can help improve the clinical status in these otherwise sick patients," she said.

The new study included 60 heart failure patients and 60 healthy people who did either four weeks of supervised aerobic training or no exercise. Half of the participants were 55 and younger and half were 65 and older.

The exercise group undertook four 20-minute training sessions per day, five days a week. They also did one 60-minute group exercise session that focused on muscle endurance and oxygen uptake (a measure of aerobic endurance).

Among heart failure patients who exercised, those aged 55 and younger increased their peak oxygen uptake by 25 percent and those aged 65 and older increased it by 27 percent.

According to Steinbaum, those finding demonstrate that "these beneficial effects [of exercise] are not age-dependent."

The study also found that the exercise program slowed muscle wasting in the heart failure patients and improved their leg muscle strength and overall exercise capacity, regardless of age.

The findings suggest that exercise benefits even elderly heart failure patients, the researchers said.

The study appears May 7 in the journal Circulation.

"Many physicians -- and insurance companies -- still believe that cardiac rehabilitation does not really help in old age. This study clearly falsifies this belief," lead co-author Dr. Stephan Gielen, deputy director of cardiology at the University Hospital, Martin Luther University of Halle, Germany, said in a journal news release.

"Exercise switches off the muscle-wasting pathways and switches on pathways involved in muscle growth, counteracting muscle loss and exercise intolerance in heart failure patients," he explained.

SOURCE: Suzanne Steinbaum, MD, preventive cardiologist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Circulation, news release, May 3, 2012

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_124905.html

Abstract at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22565934

By Kerry Grens

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The number of teenagers who have experienced mania -- a hallmark of bipolar disorder -- is close to the number of adults estimated to have the mood disorder, suggesting that for many the condition begins during adolescence, according to a new study.

"The traditional wisdom has been that mania begins in your 20s and 30s," said Kathleen Ries Merikangas, the study's lead author and chief of the genetic epidemiology branch at the National Institute of Mental Health.

"I think the important thing is for people to recognize that mania does occur in adolescents," she said.

Mania is a mood disorder characterized by excessive energy, a lack of sleep and sometimes risky and impulsive behaviors.

The most common diagnostic definition of bipolar disorder includes alternate cycles of mania and depression, though one type of bipolar diagnosis involves mania alone.

Merikangas said there have been smaller studies estimating how common mania is among children, and she and her colleagues sought to get a better handle on national rates of the disorder in kids.

The study included more than 10,000 teenagers who went through extensive interviews about their moods and behavior.

The research team found that 2.5 percent met the criteria for having had mania and depression, and 2.2 percent of teens had experienced it within the last 12 months.

Also within the year preceding the survey, 1.3 percent of the kids had mania alone and 5.7 percent had depression.

"I think that our data suggest that bipolar disorder is more common in adolescents than previous studies had shown," Merikangas told Reuters Health.

She said it could be because the questions used during the interviews were somewhat broader than what earlier surveys had asked. But all children considered to have a mood disorder in her study met the criteria for diagnosis in the DSM-IV, the standard diagnostic manual for psychiatry.

Merikangas and her colleagues point out in their report, published Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry, that the rates of mood disorders they found among teenagers are close to what is seen in adults.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 2.6 percent of adults have had bipolar disorder in the last 12 months.

"This (study) confirms the impression that onset in adolescents is part of the picture for this disorder for many many patients," said Dr. Robert Findling, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, in Cleveland, who was not involved in the new study.

The mood disorders also became more common as kids got older.

For instance, 1.4 percent of 13 and 14 year olds met the criteria for mania whereas nearly twice as many 17 and 18 year olds had the disorder.

Dr. Benjamin Goldstein at the Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto said this study has made the greatest effort to date in determining how widespread bipolar disorder is among youth.

"I think what stuck out to me most was how severely impaired the adolescents were who were described as having bipolar disorder," said Goldstein, who did not participate in the research.

About one out of every five teens with mania and depression had made a suicide attempt, and more than half had an anxiety or behavior disorder as well.

The study found that only about half of kids with mania and depression had been treated for the disorder.

Goldstein said there are effective treatments for kids with mood disorders.

The study results don't necessarily suggest that the rates of bipolar symptoms in teens are rising.

More likely, Goldstein said, increasing numbers of teens who seek treatment for a psychiatric problem are being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

"The take home message is that adolescence is when we really see bipolar disorder begin, so we should shift our focus of prevention and intervention earlier in the lifespan," Merikangas said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/LGbMKa  Archives of General Psychiatry, online May 7, 2012.

---

From: Russell Farris <russ@...>
To: infection-cortisol@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 7:32 PM
Subject: Re: [infection-cortisol] Heart Failure & Exercise

 



Hi Judy,

The ubiquitin was mentioned in the abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22565934). I looked it up because I thought it might have something to do with ubiquinol, but I don't think it does. I'm planning to try ubiquinol soon. Russ

----- Original Message -----

From: Judy Kreloff

To: infection-cortisol@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 3:24 PM

Subject: Re: [infection-cortisol] Heart Failure & Exercise

I took a quick look at the links but did not find the ubiquitin mention...however, assuming that it is not coincidental, I will tell you I take 150 mg or more of Ubiquinol per day and have for years.  Started it when I was put on statins (the ubiq was per docs instructions), I quickly stopped the statins but kept the Ubiq.  You kow what kind of condition I am in, however, I am told my heart is strong and "fine."  

---

From: Russell Farris <russ@...>
To: infection-cortisol <infection-cortisol@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 3:16 PM
Subject: [infection-cortisol] Heart Failure & Exercise

 

I'm often annoyed by studies that tell us that exercise is good for us. In most cases, the researchers are only reporting that healthy people like to exercise and therefore do more of it. The study below, however, is an intervention study in which some people exercised and others didn't. The exercise appeared to help the subjects.

        I'm interested in heart failure because my doctors keep me heavily drugged to induce an artificial (iatrogenic) state of chronic heart failure. They do this to reduce my chances of having another hemorrhagic stroke. I'm pretty sure this is a bad idea, but I'm not sure enough to stop taking the drugs.

        The abstract (link at bottom) mentions a protein I had never heard of called ubiquitin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitin). It sounds important, and it's been known for a long time. Things like ubiquitin keep me humble--they remind me of how many things I don't know. :-)  Russ www.polymicrobial.com

TUESDAY, May 8 (HealthDay News) -- Consuming probiotic-rich foods may decrease the risk of diarrhea for patients who are taking antibiotics, a new study suggests.

Probiotics are live microorganisms that are found naturally in foods such as yogurt and are believed to provide health benefits.

About 30 percent of patients who take antibiotics will experience diarrhea because the drugs disrupt gastrointestinal microbes, and diarrhea is one of the main reasons people don't adhere to antibiotic treatment.

"Diarrhea is a common problem in patients receiving antibiotic therapy and may limit their use," said Dr. David Bernstein, chief of hepatology at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. Bernstein was not involved in the new study.

"While these antibiotics treat the underlying infection, they also alter the normal gut [microbes], which leads to diarrhea," Bernstein said. "Replacing [the microbes] in patients on antibiotics has long been thought to improve antibiotic-associated diarrhea."

In the study, researchers led by Susanne Hempel, of RAND Health in Santa Monica, Calif., reviewed the findings of 63 clinical trials involving nearly 12,000 participants. They found that probiotic use was associated with a 42 percent lower risk of developing antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

"This study further underscores the importance of maintaining the balance of our intestinal bacteria," said Dr. Roshini Rajapaksa, a gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Medical Center and assistant professor at the NYU School of Medicine in New York City.

"We are learning how our beneficial bacteria can protect us not only from gastrointestinal diseases but perhaps other conditions as well," said Rajapaksa, who was not involved in the new research. "If we disrupt our bacterial balance with antibiotics, it seems prudent to restore the 'good' bacteria with a probiotic supplement. However, further research is needed to determine which strains and doses will be most helpful."

The study authors agreed that there wasn't sufficient evidence to determine if the beneficial effects of probiotics vary by patient population, antibiotic characteristic or probiotic preparation.

"Future studies should assess these factors and explicitly assess the possibility of adverse events to better refine our understanding of the use of probiotics to prevent [antibiotic-associated diarrhea]," Rand and her colleagues concluded.

The study showed only an association between probiotic use and decreased odds for diarrhea; it was not designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

Bernstein said that, as of now, there is not much clarity for consumers in terms of what microbes are included in a particular probiotic product. Probiotics "remain a largely unregulated and diverse class of supplements," he said. "Probiotic preparations are made up of a multitude of types of bacteria."

The study appears in the May 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

TUESDAY, May 8 (HealthDay News) -- The United States' progress against the battle of the bulge has been slow, but certain strategies could speed obesity prevention efforts, a new report concludes.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) on Tuesday outlined five recommendations with the greatest potential to prevent obesity.

Those recommendations come not a moment too soon: On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released startling statistics on obesity that predicted 42 percent (or 32 million more people) of the American population would be obese by 2030, while 11 percent would be severely obese. The price tag for the associated health care costs: $550 billion.

The IOM strategies include: integrating physical activity into people's daily lives; making healthy food and beverage choices available everywhere; changing marketing about nutrition and physical activity; using schools to promote healthy weight; and urging employers and health care professionals to support healthy lifestyles.

The committee that wrote the report assessed more than 800 obesity-prevention recommendations and identified those that could be used together most effectively to accelerate obesity prevention.

Specific strategies include:

• Requiring at least 60 minutes per day of physical education and activity in schools.
• Creating industry-wide guidelines regarding which foods and beverages can be marketed to children and how the marketing should be done.
• Taking full advantage of doctors' influence to promote obesity prevention among patients.
• Increasing the availability of lower-calorie, healthier children's meals in restaurants.

"As the trends show, people have a very tough time achieving healthy weights when inactive lifestyles are the norm, and inexpensive, high-calorie foods and drinks are readily available 24 hours a day," report committee chairman Dan Glickman, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said in an IOM news release.

"Individuals and groups can't solve this complex problem alone, and that's why we recommend changes that can work together at the societal level and reinforce one another's impact to speed our progress," added Glickman, who also is executive director of congressional programs at the Aspen Institute, an international nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C.

The IOM report was released as part of the CDC's Weight of the Nation conference in Washington, D.C.

By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An intensive obesity-prevention program for Australian girls didn't lead to any improvements in their diet, physical activity or body weight a year later, according to a new report.

Findings from the school-based intervention, which involved exercise sessions and nutrition workshops for lower-income girls, are the latest disappointment in a slew of research attempting to head-off adult obesity -- and the disease risks that come with it.

Especially during the middle- and high-school years, girls' physical activity declines dramatically, according to lead researcher David Lubans, from the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia.

"We were fighting against a range of psychological, sociological, environmental and biological barriers," he told Reuters Health in an email.

In the future, he added, "we need to make the programs more appealing and exciting and present information in a way that is meaningful to adolescent girls."

Lubans and his colleagues conducted their study in 12 schools in low-income areas of New South Wales. All in all, they randomly assigned 357 eighth-grade girls either to go through the intensive program at school or not to get any extra nutrition or exercise help.

At the start of the study, girls in both groups weighed an average of close to 130 pounds, with about four in ten considered overweight or obese.

Over the next year, adolescents in the intervention group were given pedometers to encourage walking and running and invited to nutrition workshops and regular exercise sessions during the school day and at lunchtime.

Participation in some of those activities was less than ideal. For example, the girls went to only one-quarter of optional lunchtime exercise sessions, and less than one in ten completed at-home physical activity or nutrition challenges, the researchers reported in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

At the end of the year, girls in both groups had gained a similar amount of weight and there was no difference in their average body fat -- about 33 percent.

The participants also gave similar answers on surveys of how much exercise they got and how much they ate, as well as on measures of self-esteem.

Only "screen time" was significantly lower in the intervention group after a year -- by about half an hour per day.

Preventive medicine researcher Robert Klesges, from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, said that although some anti-obesity programs have helped adults lose weight, the teen population has consistently been a source of frustration for researchers.

"The common belief is: nothing works," he said. "And we've got to get beyond that."

Klesges and his colleagues also found "bupkis" when they tested group behavioral counseling covering physical activity and healthy eating in hopes of preventing obesity in younger African American girls.

"We need to think outside the box," Klesges, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health.

That could include learning from what has worked in adult studies, such as giving meal replacement drinks or prepared foods to teens who have trouble making changes to their diet.

Or, it could mean using a "step-care" approach where young people who are still having trouble eating better and losing weight after a few months are given more intensive help -- rather than researchers or their doctor telling them to keep doing the same thing, Klesges said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/KQBh6k Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online May 7, 2012.

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study suggests that women who have liposuction to trim their tummies may gain some fat deeper within the abdomen -- a type of fat that's particularly unhealthy.

Brazilian researchers found that within months of abdominal liposuction, there may be an increase in the so-called "visceral" fat that surrounds the abdominal organs.

But the good news, they say, is that regular exercise may prevent that deep fat from forming.

Fat is not "inert tissue," said study leader Fabiana Benatti, of the University of Sao Paulo.

"Removing it by surgery may have important consequences such as the compensatory growth of visceral fat, which may be deleterious in the long term," Benatti told Reuters Health in an email.

Visceral fat is particularly undesirable because it's more closely connected to the risks of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, versus the superficial abdominal fat just under the skin.

The current study, according to Benatti's team, appears to be the first to give "compelling evidence" that visceral fat builds up after liposuction -- at least if you don't exercise.

EXERCISE DEEP FAT AWAY?

The findings are based on 36 normal-weight women who had liposuction to take away a small amount of superficial tummy fat. All had been sedentary before the procedure.

Benatti's team randomly assigned half of the women to start an exercise program two months after their liposuction. Those women worked out three times a week, walking on a treadmill and doing light strength training, while the rest stuck with their usual lifestyle.

Four months later, the study found, women who'd remained sedentary still had flatter tummies, but were showing a gain in visceral fat -- a 10 percent increase, on average.

In contrast, women who'd been exercising showed no such gain, the researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

It's not really clear why visceral fat increases post-liposuction, according to Benatti.

"But we believe it may be because this particular fat depot is more metabolically active than the other fat depots," she said.

Another reason, Benatti said, may be because liposuction destroys the "architecture" of fat cells just below the skin. So fat regain may be redirected to still-intact visceral fat cells.

LIPOSUCTION NO TREATMENT FOR OBESITY

In general, experts say that liposuction should not be seen as a substitute for a healthy diet and exercise. And it's intended to reduce stubborn pockets of fat, not as a treatment for obesity, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

In fact, the group says the best candidates for liposuction are people who are normal weight to moderately overweight, and already regularly exercise.

Based on these latest findings, staying active post-liposuction is key, Benatti said.

"If one should choose to undergo liposuction," she said, "it is very important, if not essential, that this person exercises after the surgery."

In the U.S., about 204,700 people underwent liposuction in 2011, according to the ASPS. That was down 42 percent from a decade before.

The known shorter-term risks of liposuction include blood clots, skin or nerve damage, and loose or "rippling" skin where the fat was removed. But little is known about whether liposuction is related to any longer-term health problems, Benatti's team notes.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/JVcSf1 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, online April 26, 2012.

WEDNESDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- One in six cancers worldwide is caused by preventable or treatable infections, a new study finds.

Infections cause about 2 million cancer cases a year, and 80 percent of those cases occur in less developed areas of the world, according to the study, which was published online May 8 in The Lancet Oncology. Of the 7.5 million cancer deaths worldwide in 2008, about 1.5 million were due to potentially preventable or treatable infections.

"Infections with certain viruses, bacteria and parasites are one of the biggest and most preventable causes of cancer worldwide," lead authors Catherine de Martel and Martyn Plummer, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, said in a journal news release. "Application of existing public-health methods for infection prevention -- such as vaccination, safer injection practice or antimicrobial treatments -- could have a substantial effect on future burden of cancer worldwide."

The researchers examined data on 27 cancers in 184 countries and calculated that about 16 percent of all cancers in 2008 were infection-related. The rate of infection-related cancers was 23 percent in developing countries and 7 percent in developed countries.

Rates of infection-related cancers ranged from 3 percent in Australia and New Zealand to 33 percent in sub-Saharan Africa.

"Many infection-related cancers are preventable, particularly those associated with human papillomavirus (HPV), Helicobacter pylori, and hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses," the researchers said.

In 2008, these four main infections together caused 1.9 million cancers, mostly of the stomach, liver and cervix. Cervical cancer accounted for about half of infection-related cancers in women, and liver and gastric cancers accounted for more than 80 percent of infection-related cancers in men.

The study findings "show the potential for preventive and therapeutic programs in less developed countries to significantly reduce the global burden of cancer and the vast disparities across regions and countries," Goodarz Danaei, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, wrote in an accompanying editorial.

"Since effective and relatively low-cost vaccines for HPV and [hepatitis B] are available, increasing coverage should be a priority for health systems in high-burden countries," Danaei added.

People with type 2 diabetes and depression are more likely to die after a heart attack than those without these conditions, and the increased risk is more than would be expected from each illness separately.

Association of Coexisting Diabetes and Depression With Mortality After Myocardial Infarction, by Mariska Bot and colleagues. Diabetes Care 35:503–509, 2012

What is the problem and what is known about it so far?

People with diabetes are around twice as likely to have depression as those without the disease. Diabetes and depression both increase the risk for heart attacks and the risk that a person will die after a heart attack.

Why did the researchers do this particular study?

The researchers wanted to know whether the coexistence of diabetes and depression increases the risk of death after a heart attack beyond the risks associated with either condition alone.

Who was studied?

The researchers studied 2,704 patients in the Netherlands who had been hospitalized after a heart attack.

How was the study done?

The researchers surveyed the patients while they were in the hospital, making note of who had depression and/or diabetes. They then tracked the patients for over six years, over which time 439 of the patients died. The researchers analyzed the data to determine whether their deaths were associated with whether they had diabetes, depression, or both at the time of their hospitalization.

What did the researchers find?

Compared to people without diabetes or depression who’d had a heart attack, people with diabetes had a 38 percent increased risk of death, people with depression had a 39 percent increased risk of death, and people with both diabetes and depression had a 190 percent increased risk of death.

What were the limitations of the study?

The researchers determined whether study participants were depressed by using a questionnaire, which is less accurate than an interview. Plus, they only determined whether a person was depressed during their hospitalization, and not during the rest of their lifetime, which might skew the results. The researchers also didn’t use laboratory tests to assess diabetes in the patients, but instead relied on patient records, which may have contained incorrect information.

What are the implications of the study?

Because depression and diabetes seem to work together to worsen the outcomes for heart attack survivors, the researchers hypothesized that depression may actually make diabetes worse. This squares well with other research that has found that depressed people with diabetes have higher blood glucose levels and more complications. The researchers report that these findings should encourage doctors to screen diabetic patients for depression and depression patients for diabetes, and then take measures to treat the conditions.

For More Information

Depression and Diabetes  Diabetes Heart-Healthy Essentials  Uncomplicated Guide to Diabetes Complications

MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that seems counterintuitive, a new study revealed that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were more likely to die after receiving comprehensive education and self-management tools.

"The comprehensive care management program was associated with unanticipated excess mortality," wrote study authors Dr. Vincent Fan, of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, and colleagues. They added that this finding differed significantly from previous studies done on self-management in COPD. And, the program used in the study also failed to decrease COPD-related hospitalizations.

The results are published in the May 15 online issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

COPD refers to either emphysema or chronic bronchitis. These progressive lung diseases are usually caused by cigarette smoking, and make it harder and harder to breathe as they get worse. COPD causes the production of mucus, which leads to coughing, shortness of breath and wheezing, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Symptoms can get worse very quickly, particularly after an infection, and these disease exacerbations (flare-ups) often result in the need to be hospitalized, according to background information in the journal.

Findings from several previous studies suggested that educating COPD patients and helping them design emergency plans could help reduce the number of hospitalizations.

The current study included 426 people being treated for COPD at one of 20 Veterans Affairs hospital-based outpatient clinics. The study volunteers were almost all male (about 97 percent), and about nine of 10 were white. About half were married, and most had graduated from high school and attended some college or vocational school. Just under 30 percent were still smoking.

The intervention group had 209 people, while the usual-care group had 217.

The study intervention consisted of four individual 90-minute weekly educational sessions. These sessions included an assessment of that person's COPD, including their current medications and what triggered exacerbations for them. Participants received a written, individualized action plan that included the steps they needed to take when their COPD flared up. They were taught how to recognize the symptoms of a flare, and they were given daily COPD management advice. They were also given prescriptions for prednisone (a steroid anti-inflammatory medication) and an antibiotic.

Case managers were available every day to answer any questions by phone. The study volunteers were instructed to call in if they had to initiate treatment based on their written plan. Researchers also called to check in on the volunteers every two months.

The one-year incidence of COPD hospitalizations was 27 percent in the intervention group and 24 percent in the usual-care group. Twenty-eight people died in the intervention group versus 10 people in the usual-care group -- a three times higher risk of death, according to the study.

Due to safety concerns, the trial was stopped early. The researchers don't know why extra education and self-management would lead to an increased risk of death, however.

"I'm not convinced that the intervention increased the risk of death. It certainly was not expected, and other studies that have looked at COPD and other diseases have found that people do well with these types of interventions," said Dr. Jonathan Whiteson, director of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

"If you flip a coin, the odds are 50-50 that you'll get heads. But, if you flip the coin 20 times, you might only get heads a few times. But, if you keep flipping the coin, it will eventually even out. That could be what was going on here. If they hadn't stopped the study, it might have equaled out a little more," Whiteson said.

He noted that because the study was predominantly in white males, it's difficult to extrapolate these findings to other populations.

Dr. Thomas Aldrich, a pulmonologist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, said, "It's really hard to imagine how this program could be so toxic, and it's hard to explain why it happened."

Aldrich said similar self-management programs like this have had good results in people with asthma. But, it's possible that there's an inherent difference in people with COPD, he noted. "Most people with COPD smoked, despite repeated health care warnings, so they've already demonstrated that they're not necessarily strongly influenced by health care advice, and maybe that's part of the problem," Aldrich said.

Dr. Len Horovitz, an internist and pulmonologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, agreed that patient differences may have played a role in this study's surprising findings. But he believes that an individual's threshold for reporting symptoms may be what's at play here.

"The threshold at which a patient will report symptoms, even when coached, is going to be quite variable. A patient might feel that their symptoms aren't much worse, although a lung function test would tell us they are. There's a lot of fear and denial for patients. And, it's hard for a doctor to know ahead of time how stoic a patient is," Horovitz said.

And, the problem with COPD is that symptoms can get worse very quickly.

"When in doubt, report your symptoms to your doctor. Because COPD is chronic, you learn to live with a lot of the symptoms," Horovitz said.

Whiteson agreed: "Come to me -- let me interpret what the symptoms mean. People with COPD can get very sick very quickly. We don't want you to wait even a day," he said.

 

Here is yet another abstract linking obesity and Chlamydophila pneumoniae. Russ www.polymicrobial.com

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Int J Obes (Lond). 2011 Sep;35(9):1225-32. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2010.267. Epub 2011 Jan 4.

Chlamydophila pneumoniae antibodies may be independently associated with increased BMI and percentage of body fat among women.

Jaworowska A, Bazylak G.

Department of Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Collegium Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Poland. agnieszkajaworowska@...

To examine the potential association between Chlamydophila pneumoniae infection and obesity indicators after controlling for nutrient and energy intake, as well as age, smoking status, physical activity and educational level.

A total of 118 healthy adult females randomly recruited from the local community of Bydgoszcz, aged 20-80 years.

Serum was tested for specific IgG antibodies against C. pneumoniae using qualitative enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Usual dietary intake was assessed by a 7-day food record. Information regarding smoking, physical activity and educational level was collected using the questionnaire. Body mass index (BMI) and percentage of total body fat (%FM) were calculated respectively, as weight (kilograms) divided by height (meters) squared and with the equations of Durnin and Womersley.

The prevalence of C. pneumoniae infection was significantly higher among overweight/obese subjects (77.1 vs 60.0%; P=0.047) in comparison with normal-weight individuals. Using multivariate regression analysis, a significant positive association of BMI (β=0.194; P=0.036) and %FM (β=0.176; P=0.049) with C. pneumoniae IgG antibody positivity was found after adjustment for age, total energy intake, percentage of energy from fat, carbohydrate and protein, physical activity, educational level and smoking habits. Moreover, the multivariable adjusted odds ratio of being overweight/obese for the seropositive group compared with seronegative individuals was 1.70 (95% confidence interval: 1.02-2.89; P=0.037).

The results indicated that C. pneumoniae infection may be associated with a risk of becoming overweight/developing obesity independently of dietary and lifestyle factors.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21206480