Drug Lucentis May Fight Diabetic Eye Disease

FRIDAY, Nov. 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The injected drug Lucentis (ranibizumab) appears highly effective at treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy, a common diabetes-related eye disease, new research shows.

Investigators say the drug beat a standard treatment, laser therapy, in curbing the vision-robbing ailment.

The findings, “provide crucial evidence for a safe and effective alternative to laser therapy against proliferative diabetic retinopathy,” NEI Director Dr. Paul Sieving said in a news release from the U.S. National Eye Institute (NEI).

The study was funded by the NEI, which described Lucentis as the first major advance in therapy for proliferative diabetic retinopathy in nearly 40 years.

The trial was conducted by the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network. The results were published online Nov. 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association and they are also slated for presentation Friday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Las Vegas.

According to the NEI, diabetic retinopathy damages blood vessels in the light-sensitive retina in the back of the eye, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy is an advanced form of the disease. Nearly 8 million people in the United States have diabetic retinopathy, making it a leading cause of blindness among working-age Americans.

Laser therapy can help preserve central vision in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy, but the treatment can also damage night and side vision, so researchers have been trying to find other therapies that are as effective as laser but without such side effects.

The new study included 305 patients with the disease. Half were randomly assigned to be treated with monthly injections of Lucentis (0.5 milligrams) for three months, and then on an as-needed basis until the retinopathy resolved or at least stabilized.

The other half of patients got laser treatment, the current gold-standard therapy. About half of the patients in this group required more than one round of treatment, the authors said.

Some patients only had treatment assessed in one eye, but others enrolled both eyes in the study. For patients with both eyes involved in the study, physicians used Lucentis in one eye and laser treatment on the other.

The result? After two years, patients in the Lucentis group showed greater improvement in the ability to read an eye chart than those in the laser group, the researchers said. There was little change in side vision in the Lucentis group, but a significant loss of side vision in the laser group, the study found.

According to study chair Dr. Jeffrey Gross of the Carolina Retina Center in Columbia, SC, “Lucentis should be considered a viable treatment option for people with proliferative diabetic retinopathy.”

The researchers also found that Lucentis might help prevent another condition called diabetic macular edema, which involves a buildup of fluid in the center of the retina. Only 9 percent of eyes treated with Lucentis developed macular edema during the study, compared with 28 percent in the laser group, the researchers said.

Two eye experts said the study results might change the standard of care for proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

“This has broad implications as a secondary or possibly primary method of treatment,” said Dr Mark Fromer, an ophthalmologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “An alternative [to laser treatment] that can decrease negative side effects while maintaining a reduction in the disease would be a welcome addition in the fight against proliferative diabetic retinopathy,” he said.

Dr. Meenakashi Gupta is a vitreoretinal specialist and assistant professor of ophthalmology at the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, also in New York City. She called the study “important,” and said that while laser therapy might still play a key role in the care of proliferative diabetic retinopathy, Lucentis could “expand our management strategies” for the disease.

More information

The U.S. National Eye Institute has more about diabetic eye disease.

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Move of the Week: Single-Leg Straight-Leg Stretch

Stretching really can do more for you than just loosen you up. Watch Health‘s contributing fitness editor, Kristin McGee, demonstrate a “stretch” that can also tighten and tones your hips and butt.

RELATED: The Best Post-Workout Stretches

Here’s how to do it: Lie on your back with your head and shoulders lifted, kick your left leg straight up and pull twice with your hands, then switch and pull your right leg. Continue alternating legs for 8 reps.

Trainer tip: Remember to engage your thighs, butt and core to get the full effects.

RELATED: 3 Yoga Stretches to Relieve Stress and Anxiety

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Envy, Thy Name Is Youth

FRIDAY, Nov. 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Know someone with great looks, plenty of friends and a hot romance? If you’re under 30, there’s a good chance you envy that person, new research says.

The study found that the younger the person, the more likely they were to experience envy. About 80 percent of those younger than 30 said they’d experienced envy in the last year, according to the survey.

But, that doesn’t mean that people over 30 are immune to the emotion. The study, which included more than 1,700 people between the ages of 18 and 80, revealed that more than three-quarters of the entire group experienced envy in the last year. And the research found that 69 percent of those aged 50 and older reported experiencing envy during the last year.

Both men and women felt envious, though women had a slight edge — 79 percent of women versus 74 percent of men, the study revealed.

In most cases, people of the same gender were the target of envy.

“It surprised us how consistently men envied other men and women, women. Even in domains like financial and occupational success, where you can imagine that a woman might envy a man his better pay or status, that wasn’t usually the case,” study co-author Christine Harris, a psychology professor at the University of California, San Diego, said in a university news release.

The researchers also found that people’s envy tended to be directed at those within five years of their own age, and that the things that triggered envy changed with age.

Young adults were more likely to be envious over looks and romance, along with school and social success. For example, romance was the source of envy among 40 percent of people younger than 30, compared with 15 percent of those older than 50, the researchers noted.

Men were more envious of occupational success than were women, the study said. And, women were more envious of people’s looks than men were, the research revealed.

“Envy of monetary success and occupational success was common across all age groups, but these two domains were unique in being more often envied by older people,” the researchers wrote.

The study was published recently in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology.

More information

Mental Health America offers advice on how to live your life well.

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Medicines Last as Long in Space as Here on Earth: Study

FRIDAY, Nov. 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Medicines don’t degrade faster in space than they do on Earth, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed nine medications that were stocked on the International Space Station for 550 days and returned unused to Earth, where they were kept under controlled conditions for three to five months.

The medications included pain relievers, sleeping aids, antihistamines/decongestants, an anti-diarrheal and an alertness drug.

The researchers assessed whether the active ingredients and the amount of degradation in the medications met United States Pharmacopeia (USP) guidelines for viability.

One medication met the USP standards five months after its expiration date, four met the standards up to eight months after their expiration dates, and three met the standards when tested three months before their expiration dates. A dietary supplement/sleeping aid did not meet the standards when tested 11 months after its expiration date.

No unusual degradation was found in any of the medications, according to the study published online Nov. 6 in the AAPS Journal.

Until now, there has been little information about how long periods of time in space affect medications.

While the International Space Station is regularly resupplied with medications, this may not be possible on long missions to more distant locations in space, said study leader Virginia Wotring. She’s with the Center for Space Medicine and Department of Pharmacology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Researchers said further studies in this area are necessary before planning long-term space flights, such as missions to Mars.

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration explains the importance of expiration dates on medications.

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8 Tricks for Wearing Mascara When You Have Sensitive Eyes

Photo: Getty Images

My eyes and mascara don’t play nice. One swipe of the wrong kind leaves me inflamed, teary, and bloodshot—not a good look.

Turns out, I’m not the only one who feels this (itchy burny) pain. “Many women have dermatitis or allergies to eye makeup, particularly to mascara because it gets closest to the eyeballs,” says Jessica Lattman, MD, an ophthalmologist in New York. Dry eyes often factor in, she explains, because the condition prevents your eyes from flushing out offending substances.

Those of us who wear contacts and are allergy-prone are even more likely to react (thanks, Universe). But we can still get lush-ish lashes, if we’re willing to tweak our ways. Here, Dr. Lattman’s advice for how to wear mascara without putting your eyes through bloody hell.

RELATED: The Golden Rules for Wide, Bright Eyes

Do a DIY patch test

Before you place that wand near your eyes, advises Dr. Lattman, try the product out on your inner forearm (with a Q-tip swipe a little excess product from the base of the wand, then dab on skin). Cover with a piece of tape or adhesive bandage and check again at the end of the day. If you don’t notice any redness, you’re good to go.

Shop old-school

Extension fibers? Proprietary mega-thickening formulas? Not for you. “The simpler the better,” says Dr. Lattman. “Less bells and whistles means less ingredients to irritate you.”

Go basic black

The dyes used in colored formulas are more likely to bother sensitive types. Besides, you are way too sophisticated to look like a 1980s prom queen.

RELATED: 10 Surprising Beauty Uses for Coconut Oil

Avoid waterproof

Budge-proof sounds good, until you have to scrub yourself raw trying to get it (somewhat) off. “Waterproof formulas are harder to remove,” which means your sensitive eyes and skin don’t get a break, Dr. Lattman notes. Yes you may get the occasional smudge, but isn’t that better than itchy, irritated eyes? Or your contacts popping right out on you?

Ignore the beauty insiders

So the latest makeup vlogger commands you to wriggle that wand in super close to the lash line. Eye doctors beg you not to. “Avoid the base of the lashes and the lower lash line,” Dr. Lattman instructs. And P.S., when wearing eyeliner, skip the waterline (that flat inner rim of the eye inside the lash line) to avoid getting a bacterial eye infection.

Take. It. All. Off.

You know this. I know this. But we still sometimes crash without removing our eye makeup. (At least I do. You’re probably more disciplined.) Nothing good comes of this habit; it contributes to blepharitis, an inflammation of the eyelid that leads to a gritty sensation and tearing. Dr. Lattman is a fan of gently scrubbing lashes and lids with Almay Oil-Free Gentle Eye Makeup Remover Pads ($8; ulta.com): “It’s like giving a shampoo to your lashes.”

RELATED: 9 Glam Gifts for Beauty Addicts

Know when to say ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You’

Relationships change and that beloved mascara you’ve been loyal to since college may suddenly bug the hell out of you. “I have women who have used a product for years and say, ‘All of a sudden I have redness, irriation and a scaly appearance—that’s an allergy to the product.'” It’s time to part ways.

Oh and one other key tip from the doctor: “Throw mascara away every three months because bacteria can definitely build up and cause an infection.”

Start with these picks

The following mascaras fit the bill for finicky eyes. Keep in mind, though, that everyone has different sensitivities, so start with a patch test.

Clinique High Impact Mascara in Black ($17; sephora.com)

Photo: Sephora.com

Almay Get Up and Grow Mascara in Blackest Black ($7; ulta.com)

Photo: Alta.com

Bobbi Brown Everything Mascara in Black ($36; amazon.com)

Photo: Amazon.com

Physician’s Formula Organic Wear Jumbo Mascara in Black ($10; ulta.com)

Photo: Ulta.com

BareMinerals Flawless Definition Mascara ($18, sephora.com)

Photo: Sephora.com

RELATED: 8 Best Overnight Beauty Products to Wake Up Gorgeous

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FDA Finalizes New Food Safety Rules

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Nov. 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) — In the wake of wide-ranging outbreaks of foodborne illness, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday finalized new rules to help keep contaminated food out of American kitchens.

These food safety regulations for fruit and vegetable farms and food importers were developed as a result of the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011.

“These rules, for the first time, establish enforceable safety standards of production and harvesting of produce, and make importers accountable for the safety of the food they bring into the United States,” Michael Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, said during a Friday morning news conference.

This is the first time that produce farmers and food importers have fallen directly under FDA regulations, he said.

Taylor said that outbreaks caused by leafy greens, cantaloupes, cilantro and other produce underscore the need for the new requirements.

“A recent outbreak of salmonella in imported cucumbers killed four Americans and sent more than 157 to the hospital,” he said. “These outbreaks are just the kind of food safety problems today’s rules are meant to prevent.”

The establishment of regulations changes the FDA’s mission from reacting to outbreaks of foodborne illness to making the food industry responsible for preventing them, Taylor said.

The new farm rule sets requirements for water quality; employee health and hygiene; wild and domesticated animals; compost and manure; and equipment, tools and buildings, the FDA said.

Also, food importers must verify that foreign suppliers are producing foods that meet U.S. safety standards. And the suppliers’ facilities must achieve the same level of food safety as domestic farms and food facilities.

The FDA will also empower accredited independent auditors to conduct food safety inspections of foreign food facilities. In some cases, the FDA can require certification that imported food is safe.

To fund the agency’s expanded role, the budget currently before Congress requests an additional $109 million, Taylor said. “Without this money, implementation of these rules will be seriously interrupted and delayed,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that about 19 percent of the food eaten in the United States is imported. More than half of fresh fruits and 22 percent of fresh vegetables come from other countries, according to an FDA news release.

Two more rules will be finalized next year, Taylor said. One deals with food transportation and the other with intentional contamination of food, he said.

Each year some 48 million Americans — one in six — are sickened by foodborne diseases. About 128,000 people are hospitalized and 3,000 die from contaminated food, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More information

For more on food safety, visit Foodsafety.gov.

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Too Much Traffic in OR May Put Patients at Risk, Study Finds

FRIDAY, Nov. 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Many operating rooms have too many people coming and going during surgeries, which puts patients at increased risk for infections, a new study suggests.

Most operating rooms in U.S. hospitals have special ventilation systems meant to keep out potentially contaminated air from surrounding corridors. But every time the doors open, outside air can get into the operating room, the study authors explained.

In this study, researchers recorded the number and length of door openings during nearly 200 knee and hip surgeries at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore.

In one-third of the operations, there were enough door openings to potentially defeat the safety effects of the doorway airflow system, according to the study published online Nov. 11 in the journal Orthopedics.

It’s likely this is a common problem nationwide, the Johns Hopkins University researchers said.

“Our findings add to a growing body of evidence of a relatively common practice that could be a potential safety concern, and raises questions about why doors get opened and how we can prevent or minimize the frequency and duration of behaviors that could compromise OR sterility,” study senior author Stephen Belkoff, said in a university news release.

He and his colleagues conducted their study without the knowledge of operating room staff, so they couldn’t ask why so many people went in and out during surgeries.

“What we know for sure is that there was a whole lot more traffic in and out of the OR than seems necessary or easily explained,” said Belkoff, who is an associate professor in the department of orthopaedic surgery and director of the International Center for Orthopaedic Advancement.

Only one of the patients in the study developed an infection after surgery, and the cause of that infection was unknown.

“Yes, we have low infection rates and, yes, we take a great many precautions, but we cannot be complacent, and we must remain vigilant about practices that pose risk — theoretical or otherwise,” study co-author Dr. Simon Mears said in the news release. “Excessive door opening is one such practice.”

More information

The American College of Surgeons has more about surgery.

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Gene Study of Liver Tumor Reveals Versatile DNA

FRIDAY, Nov. 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Tumors may have much greater genetic versatility than previously thought, and researchers say that might explain their ability to resist cancer treatments.

The finding comes from extensive and rigorous genetic sequencing carried out on a single tumor.

The human liver tumor that the scientists studied — which was slightly more than 1 inch in diameter — contained more than 100 million distinct mutations within the coding regions of its genes. That’s thousands of times more than what scientists expected.

“With 100 million mutations, each capable of altering a protein in some way, there is a high probability that a significant minority of tumor cells will survive, even after aggressive treatment,” study director Chung-I Wu, a professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago, said in a university news release.

The study was published in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The results suggest that even tiny tumors are likely to have extremely high genetic diversity, and to have cells that may be able to resist standard postsurgical chemotherapy and radiation, the researchers said.

“In a setting with so much diversity, those cells could multiply to form new tumors, which would be resistant to standard treatments,” Wu explained.

Previous research has shown that cancer patients’ chances of survival decrease as genetic diversity within tumors increases, because more mutations make drug resistance more likely.

“The possibility of high intra-tumor diversity even in small tumors suggests a need to re-evaluate treatment strategies,” the study authors concluded.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about cancer.

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Vitamin D Deficiency Might Be Tied to Erectile Dysfunction

FRIDAY, Nov. 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Low levels of vitamin D may be associated with erectile dysfunction, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 3,400 American men, age 20 and older, who did not have heart disease. Thirty percent were vitamin D deficient, which means their levels of the “sunshine vitamin” were below 20 nanograms per milliliter of blood. And 16 percent had erectile dysfunction.

Vitamin D deficiency was present in 35 percent of men with erectile dysfunction, compared with 29 percent of those without erectile dysfunction, the study found.

“Vitamin D deficiency is easy to screen for and simple to correct with lifestyle changes that include exercise, dietary changes, vitamin supplementation and modest sunlight exposure,” study lead investigator Dr. Erin Michos, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a university news release.

The researchers concluded that men with vitamin D deficiency were 32 percent more likely to be impotent than those with sufficient vitamin D levels. This association held even after the study authors accounted for other factors associated with erectile dysfunction, such as drinking, smoking, diabetes, higher blood pressure, inflammation and certain medications.

The researchers emphasized that their findings are observational and don’t prove cause and effect. They said more research is needed to determine if there’s a direct link between low vitamin D levels and erectile dysfunction. If that’s the case, they said it could lead to new treatment approaches.

“Checking vitamin D levels may turn out to be a useful tool to gauge ED risk,” Michos said. “The most relevant clinical question then becomes whether correcting the deficiency could reduce risk and help restore erectile function.”

About 40 percent of men older than 40 and 70 percent of those older than 70 are unable to attain and maintain an erection, the researchers said. Vitamin D deficiency affects up to 40 percent of adult Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study was presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until it’s published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about erectile dysfunction.

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First Uterus Transplant Planned in U.S.

FRIDAY, Nov. 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Crossing new frontiers in infertility treatment and organ transplantation, Cleveland Clinic doctors hope to transplant a uterus from a deceased donor into a woman without one.

The innovative procedure — tentatively scheduled for the next few months — would enable a woman with ovaries but no uterus to become pregnant and deliver a child. Eight women have reportedly started the screening process.

These women were either born without a uterus — a condition that affects 1 of every 4,500 newborn girls — or have had their uterus removed or it is damaged, according to The New York Times.

The clinical trial, a first in the United States, was announced Thursday, a year after the first live birth from a uterine transplant occurred in Sweden. In Sweden, however, live donors are used. The Cleveland Clinic doctors decided on deceased donors to avoid putting healthy women at risk, the newspaper said.

A donor and recipient would have to have matching blood and tissue type.

The hospital plans to attempt the procedure 10 times before deciding whether to continue with it, according to the Times.

“There are women who won’t adopt or have surrogates, for reasons that are personal, cultural or religious,” said Dr. Andreas Tzakis, director of solid organ transplant surgery at a Cleveland Clinic hospital in Weston, Fla., who is spearheading the project.

“These women know exactly what this is about. They’re informed of the risks and benefits. They have a lot of time to think about it, and think about it again. Our job is to make it as safe and successful as possible,” he told the Times.

It’s thought that as many as 50,000 U.S. women might be potential candidates for the procedure.

The transplantation process is not without risks. The women must take powerful transplant anti-rejection drugs, undergo surgery to implant the uterus and likely face a subsequent surgery to remove the organ after one or two babies are born, the newspaper said.

Removing the donor uterus would limit the time spent taking the powerful anti-rejection drugs, the doctors explained.

The process is complicated and time-consuming. Using in vitro fertilization, the woman’s own eggs would be fertilized with her partner’s sperm and frozen. When she has 10 frozen embryos, she would be put on a waiting list for a transplant, the Times said.

Beginning one year after transplant, the embryos would be implanted one at a time until a pregnancy is achieved.

The baby would be born via cesarean section to reduce strain on the transplanted organ. The mother could then decide to have her donor uterus removed or stop taking the anti-rejection drugs, at which point the organ would begin to wither away. Or she could try for a second pregnancy. Because of safety concerns, two is the current limit under consideration, the Times reported.

Dr. Alan Lichtin, chairman of the Cleveland Clinic’s ethics board, told the paper that the committee’s initial impression was, “This is really pushing the envelope. But this is the way human progress occurs.”

Dr. Tomer Singer is a reproductive endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He said this new procedure would allow “women to carry their own genetic child without the use of a gestational carrier (surrogate), which can be financially and emotionally taxing.”

Undergoing a uterus transplant “opens the door to an innovative and promising advancement within reproductive medicine. We believe that tens of thousands of women will benefit from this advancement in the future, while realizing that there are still challenges to overcome before we offer this procedure routinely,” he added.

Singer said the most significant hurdles include “side effects to both the mom and the fetus from required anti-rejection medication, as well as maintaining a normal blood supply during the procedure and for nine months after to allow for healthy growth of the fetus.”

More information

For more on infertility, see the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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