Health News - Wednesday, January 17, 2007
A humble toothbrush could be a powerful pancreatic cancer prophylaxis, suggest results of an observational study that associated periodontal disease with the malignancy. Men with periodontitis and tooth loss, or both, had an overall 64% greater risk of cancer of the pancreas than men with good oral health, showed data from Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
The strength of the association was underlined by the finding that men with periodontal who never smoked cigarettes -- one of the few known risk factors for pancreatic cancer -- had a more than two-fold greater risk for the malignancy, reported epidemiologist Dominique Michaud, Sc.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues. Continue reading
Parasitic infections may actually benefit people with multiple sclerosis (MS), suggests a study by researchers in Argentina. These infections may affect the body's immune response in a way that changes the course of the disease.
Previous studies found that parasite infection could affect the course of autoimmune diseases in animals. This is the first study to examine the relationship between parasite infections and MS in humans. The study included 12 MS patients with a parasite infection and 12 MS patients who were parasite-free. The patients in both groups had a similar disease course. The patients were followed for an average of 4.6 years. Continue reading
Benzodiazepine is a sedative drug doctors often prescribe for anxiety, sleep and seizure disorders. Previous studies suggested the drug is associated with an increase in hip fractures in the elderly, causing legislation to limit access to this drug. But now researchers say benzodiazepine use is not shown to be associated with hip fractures after all.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston wanted to know if a New York State policy calling for a drastic reduction in the use of benzodiazepine resulted in fewer hip fractures among the elderly. The policy required benzodiazepine to be prescribed on a triplicate form in 1989. Physicians must obtain and pay for the forms and pharmacists must give a copy to state health authorities. The policy resulted in a 60-percent reduction in the use of the drug in women and a 58-percent reduction in use for men. New Jersey did not implement such a policy and benzodiazepine use rates stayed the same. Continue reading