WeirdMedical™

Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce…but DON’T HOLD THE STATINS!

Whether its McDonald’s or Burger King a key chaser will help our cardiovascular systems survive our bad eating habits.

McDonald's Quarter Pounder(R)

A new trend from the UK…Researchers from Imperial College London, suggest from a meta-analysis of statins used for primary prevention of heart problems that statins be served with burgers and other meals at fast food restaurants.

According to Valentin Fuster, director of Mt. Sinai Heart and past president of the World Heart Federation, in a posting on the Health Blog:

“It’s becoming very paradoxical that we accept [the presence of] all these trans fats and fast foods and aren’t able to counteract those with simple methods.” He supports the sale of over-the-counter statins.

Magnus Ohman, professor of medicine and director of the program for advanced coronary disease at Duke University Medical Center, thinks otherwise about proper use of statins…Read more about the big debate…

“But honey, the < fill in here > made me do it!”

A meta-analysis of healthcare insurance claims has shown that middle aged men (40′s or older) who take impotence drugs have triple the rate of sexually transmitted diseases compared to their drug-free brethren.

The scientific theory, however, is not that the drugs make them more promiscuous but that perhaps the predisposition of the male mindset leads them to seek the path to more fun through pharmaceuticals.

Read on…

We know that exercise is good for us and why, right?

Wrong. None of us do. No one knows the granular biochemistry. But here’s a S.W.A.G. (click to first term)…

Translucent Woman Running Illustration by Bryan Cristie

A new study suggests it offers both acute and long term benefits:

“These findings suggest that exercise has both “acute and cumulative” effects on your body’s ability to use and burn fat,” says Gregory Lewis, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and an author of the study. After only 10 minutes of exercise, even the least fit showed evidence that their bodies were burning fat; the more fit, the more metabolic evidence of fat burning.”

Read on McDuff!

Any of us could have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit [Hyperactive] Disorder (ADD/ADHD) at one time or another in our lives…

But in the last few years, new anecdotal evidence implies that ADD is often too quickly presented as the explanation for a child’s inattentiveness or hyperactivity…with drugs, behavioral therapies, and support group participation growing double digits…who does this benefit?

ADHD EEG

Consider:

“ADD is the most commonly diagnosed disorder in children (Grossman). Its origins are unknown, but according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it is speculated that ADD is due to these factors: genetics, prenatal complications, and neurotransmitter deficits,” according to Health & Wellness online magazine’s Claudette Ellyse. Further, “It is said that 5 million children have ADD (Alexander-Roberts 1). 50% of those children will not have it when they become adults (Armstrong 13). It is doubtful that all of those children become “cured.” There is no cure for ADD. It is more likely that most of these children never had ADD at all.”

The primary symptoms of ADD, “The Big Four”:

• distractibility
• impulsivity
• restlessness
• hyperactivity

Secondary symptoms can occur when the primary systems go unnoticed and the ADD are not treated. They include low self-esteem, depression, boredom and frustration with school, impaired peer relations, violent behavior due to mounting frustrations, and sometimes alcohol, promiscuity and drug abuse.

Concerned? read on… What do you think?

If your answer to yesterday’s post was soda, you were correct.

These popular drinks that drive caffeine through our bodies on a daily basis not only threaten sperm longevity (see WeirdMedical.com April 2 post) but are now believed to contribute to accelerated aging.

Studies performed by researchers at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Infection and Immunity, discovered that phosphate as a salt of phosphoric acid added to sodas to increase its fizz or “pop” also increase the “pop” (or old age) factor in mice.

According to head of research, M. Shawkat Razzaque, M.D., Ph.D. , “Humans need a healthy diet and keeping the balance of phosphate in the diet may be important for a healthy life and longevity. Avoid phosphate toxicity and enjoy a healthy life,” [ScienceDaily (Apr. 28, 2010) - supporting research from The FASEB Journal]

So to avoid looking like Pop we may need to limit the pop!

Question –> What do you think could age you as fast as carousing all night, boozing and smoking old stogies?

(A hint – we published a post about this agent on April 2.)

Answer will appear in our April 29 posting.

wrinkly faced old man

In addition to loss of calcium in aging bones due to more than moderate consumption, and its caffeine protecting women’s memory, now colas are reported to affect men’s virility…but not in a good way…

Cola and unhealthy lifestyle...

A Danish study of 2,554 young men showed there is a correlation between unhealthy life style, drinking more than ~15 [U.S. 16 oz.] cans of cola drinks per week and sperm count.

The culprit is not necessarily caffeine. The 30% drop in count experienced with moderate cola consumption was not seen in the coffee drinker consuming the same caffeine level. Researchers believe there could be a strong correlation between drink choice, its other ingredients, and/or life-style choice…read more.

Time to eat more fruits and veggies for more prolific and spunkier sperm!

If you are struggling for therapeutic relief from multiple sclerosis, you’ve got a lot of competition…

An new investigational procedure using an old “Gold Standard” technology is causing MS patients to apply in droves for a single site clinical trial. Over 1,000 patients applied for 3o positions at a lone study site in Buffalo, New York in its early trial. And the technology?…Is it a drug or an active agent?…no…it’s “POBA” –> Plain Old Balloon Angioplasty!

The theory of balloon angioplasty’s anticipated success in this new indication for use? This  provocative new theory proposes that abnormal blood drainage from the brain may cause or play a role in multiple sclerosis. According to early studies by an Italian vascular specialist, Dr. Paolo Zamboni, who was running out of treatment options for his wife, poor deoxygenated blood drainage caused by twisted, narrowed or blocked cerebrospinal veins may cause “leakage of immune cells into the brain that starts a cascade of inflammatory problems.” In this venous application, balloon angioplasty opens these vessels to increase the volume and rate of drainage…and patients can not wait to receive treatment.

“A lot of people are starting to go to fly-by-night places,” according to Dr. Carlo Tornatore at Washington’s Georgetown University Hospital. “It’s a marathon, not a 100-yard sprint. We have to be very careful.” (Source: Seattle PI, Seattle, WA)

The indication is chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency or CCSVI. Further studies of 65 patients by Dr. Zamboni reveal this therapy may be most effective in treating the relapsing-remitting form of MS. But there appears to be a significant relapse rate nearly 50%, similar to that for POBA for coronary arteries in the 1980′s and 1990′s.

Stay tuned…this opens a whole new opportunity for peripheral vascular device manufactures as well as their new MS patients!

Do feel like your metabolism is slowing down?

Are you worried about getting fat?

Dismay no longer ladies…sorry guys…but now moderate drinking has been proven not only to help keep your heart healthy but keep your weight level over the years…and what a great way to cope with the Great Recession!

“Researchers at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston asked more than 19,000, normal-weight U.S. women aged 39 or older how many alcoholic beverages they typically drank in a day, and then tracked the women for around 13 years,” according to editors at Canada.com. They found that those women who abstained from drinking wine, beer or alcohol were most likely to gain weight, and those who drank two drinks per day were most likely to maintain their weight from 13 years prior.

(Photo courtesy of Chris Barria, Reuters)

But the best drink to keep the pounds / kilos off?…of course, was red wine.

Now gals can Go Red in just another way – You go girls!

Ah…soon to be springtime! That marvelous time of year when those lovely little darlings throw their hats and coats into piles in the playground at school…

…and bring home head lice, followed by traumatic visits to drug stores and at least one weekend shot to heck fumigating their heads, toys, clothes and entire bedrooms!

(Source WebMD)

And worse yet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the first line of defense is a neurotoxin that is losing its effectiveness. Despite being an FDA approved over-the-counter (OTC) active ingredient, pediculicides containing neurotoxic pesticides are creating a strain of lice that is resistant.

So if  neurochemistry does not work, how about “biomechanical topical science?” Good old home remedies such as  mayonnaise, olive oil, and petroleum jelly seem to work initially. But lice cannot be asphyxiated easily so they bounce back to life within the next shampooing.

Clinical research to the rescue! –> In a study published online February 23, 2010 in Pediatric Dermatology, three (3) recent clinical trials studying 700 subjects showed that Benzyl alcohol lotion 5% (BAL 5%), a non-neurotoxic topical treatment successfully kills head lice by suffocating them. According to MedScape Today, “BAL 5% is safe and effective in children as young as 6 months and is the first non-neurotoxic compound to win approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”

Downsides? BAL 5% is:

• Only available by prescription – so you first need to see your pediatrician
• Non-ovicidal (does not kill nits) – requiring a second treatment 7 days later (plan on tying-up 2 weekends in a row!)
• Expensive – requiring multiple bottles for longer hair times two applications

So if your insurance covers it, fret no longer, moms and dads!

BAL 5% is on its way to a drugstore near you to “head lice off at the pass!“