Health | 100 Tips

Reduced Blood Flow to Back of Brain Raises Recurrent Stroke Risk: Study

MONDAY, Dec. 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — People who have a stroke in the back of the brain and continue to have reduced blood flow to this area have a higher risk of having another stroke within two years, a new study reveals.

But researchers say people with low blood flow to the back of the brain can be identified with a new MRI-based technology. And, identifying areas with low blood flow is crucial, the study authors explained.

“Having a blockage present in a blood vessel doesn’t always correlate to low blood flow,” lead investigator Dr. Sepideh Amin-Hanjani, a professor of neurological surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, said in a university news release.

“There can be a blockage and flow can be normal, if other nearby blood vessels are able to compensate,” Amin-Hanjani added.

Once areas with low blood flow have been identified, patients might benefit from angioplasty, a procedure to open blocked arteries, the researchers said.

Findings from the study were published in the Dec. 21 issue of JAMA Neurology.

Up to 40 percent of all strokes occur in the area of the back of the brain responsible for movement and balance. Strokes in this area can result in partial or total paralysis, the study authors said.

The study included 72 adults who had a stroke or mini-stroke in the back of the brain. The adults were treated at five academic medical centers in the United States and Canada. The stroke patients had at least a 50 percent blockage of the arteries in that part of their brain. Their health was tracked for an average of 22 months, according to the report.

The blood flow to the back of the patients’ brains was assessed using noninvasive optimal vessel analysis — a program that can quantify the volume, speed and direction of blood flowing through any major vessel in the brain using standard MRI equipment.

The study revealed that 25 percent of the stroke patients had reduced blood flow in the back of the brain. These people had 12-month stroke-free survival rates of 78 percent, the researchers said. Those with normal blood flow to the back of their brains had a 96 percent stroke-free survival rate at 12 months.

People with low blood flow had 24-month stroke-free survival rates of 70 percent, compared to 87 percent for patients with normal blood flow, the investigators found.

“At one year, the risk for patients with low blood flow was about five times as high as risk for patients without low flow in the back of the brain,” Amin-Hanjani said. For these high-risk patients, the benefits of angioplasty likely outweigh the risks of the procedure, the researchers advised.

The study authors pointed out that as many as three-quarters of people in the study didn’t have low blood flow to the back of the brain. “Other arteries are doing the job of ensuring that proper blood flow is reaching that area — and these patients would not benefit from treatments aimed at opening the vessels, such as angioplasty — in fact, the procedure would put these patients at unnecessary risk,” Amin-Hanjani said.

More information

The National Stroke Association has more about stroke.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1PgwIpV

End-of-Life Talk Often Comes Too Late for Blood Cancer Patients

MONDAY, Dec. 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Many doctors wait too long to have end-of-life discussions with blood cancer patients, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed surveys completed by 349 blood cancer specialists, and found that 56 percent said end-of-life discussions with patients happen too late.

Nearly 43 percent said they had their first end-of-life discussions with patients at less-than-ideal times, the findings showed. About 23 percent of the doctors said they waited until death was imminent before discussing hospice care. And nearly 40 percent waited until death was imminent before they asked patients where they wanted to die.

Several factors may contribute to the delay in end-of-life discussions with blood cancer patients, according to Dr. Oreofe Odejide, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues.

While solid tumors are incurable after they reach an advanced stage, many advanced blood cancers remain potentially curable. The lack of a clearly defined point when there is no remaining hope for blood cancer patients may contribute to delays in end-of-life discussions, the researchers said.

The study was published online Dec. 21 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

The findings show that blood cancer specialists are aware of gaps in end-of-life care for their patients, but are uncertain how to tackle the issue, Dr. Thomas LeBlanc, from the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., explained in an accompanying editorial.

“As a practicing [blood cancer doctor] and a palliative care physician, I believe that the field of hematology should look to specialty palliative care for the answer to this need,” he concluded.

More information

The American Society of Hematology has more about blood cancers.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1PgwJKy

One-Third of Incurable Cancer Patients Keep Working, Study Finds

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Dec. 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — More than one-third of people with incurable cancer continue to work despite their fatal illness, a new study reports.

What’s more, they are likely to stay on the job until they grow too sick to keep going, the researchers found.

The severity of a cancer patient’s symptoms is the most important factor in whether he or she will stop working, researchers reported Dec. 21 in the journal Cancer.

“The factor that associated most strongly with no longer working was a high symptom burden,” said lead researcher Dr. Amye Tevaarwerk, an oncologist with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “It wasn’t any of these other things, like where your cancer is located or your gender or the treatment you are receiving.”

An estimated 4.8 million Americans of working age have been diagnosed with cancer, including many who are incurable, according to background notes with the study.

But few studies have investigated how many people choose to remain on the job even though their days are limited, Tevaarwerk said.

To investigate this question, Tevaarwerk and her research team analyzed data from a cancer research project that tracked just over 3,000 patients being treated for one of the four most common solid tumor types — breast, prostate, colon or lung.

The researchers focused on 668 people of working age with cancer that had spread to other parts of their body. They found that 236 (35 percent) were working full- or part-time.

“That is a fairly high number,” Tevaarwerk said. “These patients, who might have a life expectancy between a year and five years, continue to be gainfully employed.”

Tevaarwerk offered an anecdotal explanation based on the patients she sees as a practicing oncologist.

“Patients are probably working for a number of reasons,” she said. “Some might need the income or the access to health insurance. But, for others work provides a source of social support, a distraction from their health problems, and a sense of normalcy in their lives. It’s going to be a complicated mix.”

Corinne Leach, director of cancer and aging research for the American Cancer Society, agreed with Tevaarwerk’s assessment.

“Working can be a good thing for people,” Leach said. “It can be helpful financially, but also in terms of identity and remaining active. Some people may stop working so they can spend more time with their family or travel, but others may have renewed energy to tackle some issue at work that they want to complete while they still can.”

Tevaarwerk’s team couldn’t say why these people keep working, as that data wasn’t collected by the research project. But the study authors conducted a statistical analysis to see what factors might most influence a person’s decision.

They found that a number of characteristics had no bearing at all on whether patients kept working, including the type of cancer, the number of locations to which it had spread, the type of treatment patients were receiving, or the length of time they’d been dealing with cancer.

Instead, severity of cancer symptoms proved the most likely factor that would cause a person to quit their job, the study found.

Fatigue, drowsiness, memory problems and numbness were the symptoms most associated with cancer patients no longer working, the researchers found.

This means there’s a lot that doctors can do to help patients who want to keep working while they battle cancer, Tevaarwerk said.

“I can’t change where your cancer is located, but I can sure control your symptoms, or at least we can try,” she said. “This is something that is modifiable.”

Based on these findings, doctors should have a “fairly frank discussion” about the likely course of a patient’s disease and how much he or she values work, Tevaarwerk said.

“If it’s something that they really want or have to do, then we have to be aggressive in managing symptoms,” she said.

Future research can help by focusing on how to improve the management of cancer symptoms, Leach added.

More information

For more about working during cancer treatment, visit the American Cancer Society.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1PgwJKu

Home Births May Be Safe for ‘Low-Risk’ Pregnancies: Study

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Dec. 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Some babies born at home seem to fare as well as similar babies born in a hospital, a new Canadian study finds.

However, the researchers only looked at pregnancies considered to be low risk, and emergency services did have to respond to about 8 percent of the home births, the study found.

A leading critic of home births dismissed the findings, and said that midwives are more integrated into the health system in Canada than in the United States.

But study author Eileen Hutton, director of the Midwifery Education Program at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said the results should be comforting to pregnant women considering whether to give birth at home.

“I’d feel very reassured that the outcomes for home birth are good,” she said. But she added that women giving birth at home must take special precautions in case of an emergency.

“As long as there’s coordination between home and hospital, you could say home birth appears to be as safe as giving birth at the hospital,” Hutton said.

There is a small, but growing, trend toward birth at home in the United States. As of 2009, less than 1 percent of births occurred at home, but that number — 0.72 percent — had grown by almost 30 percent over the previous five years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Home births were once virtually universal. The wide majority of births occurred at home in 1900, but hospitals accounted for 56 percent of births by 1940 and 99 percent of births by 1969, the CDC says.

There’s continuing debate over whether home births are as safe as hospital births. Home births typically rely on midwives, not physicians, although doctors may be on call if needed. Homes also lack the sophisticated medical equipment of hospitals, although ambulances can often provide almost instant access to emergency care.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says hospitals and birthing centers are the safest places for births, and it cautions that babies face a higher risk of death — although still low overall — when born at home.

In the new study, researchers compared almost 11,500 planned hospital births to the same number of planned home births in the province of Ontario from 2006 to 2009. Midwives assisted all the pregnancies, which were all considered low-risk. That means the mothers didn’t have medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or a history of complications with previous births, Hutton said.

Whether born at home or in the hospital, the babies in the study faced about the same risk of stillbirth, death within the first month of life, serious health problems or a need to be resuscitated in the minutes after birth. Mothers at home needed fewer interventions such as epidurals and nitrous oxide for pain relief, or oxytocin to speed up labor.

Hutton acknowledged that this may be because women who want a more natural birth may be more tolerant of things like pain. But it may also be that the more controlled and familiar environment of home improves the labor process for the mother, she said.

As for the finding that about 8 percent of the mothers at home needed emergency care, Hutton said women’s perspectives on the numbers will differ. “Some people might say, ‘Whoa, there’s a 10 percent risk I’ll need to transfer by hospital, I’ll just go there in the first place.’ And others will say, ‘There’s a 90 percent chance I’ll stay home,’ ” she said.

Dr. Amos Grunebaum, a critic of home birth and director of obstetrics and chief of labor & delivery at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, said most U.S. studies have shown higher risks for babies born at home.

The Canadian study is too small to allow “a meaningful conclusion,” Grunebaum said, and it has less value because it excludes so many women and doesn’t report what happened to their babies afterward.

In general, he said, “it’s impossible to make home birth safer than a hospital birth because at home there is inadequate time to perform interventions such as emergency cesarean sections if a problem occurs, and there are no pediatricians available in case the baby has issues.”

In addition, “in the U.S., most home birth midwives are undertrained, inexperienced and do not need college education,” he said, and they aren’t required to only deliver low-risk babies.

What should women do if they want to have a birth at home?

While he discourages home births, Grunebaum said women who insist “should make sure their midwife is well-educated and licensed. Most home-birth midwives in the U.S. have no medical liability insurance, so there is no protection if something goes wrong.”

Hutton, on the other hand, supports home birth. She said it’s important to find a well-qualified midwife and to make sure there’s good coordination with a hospital so emergency personnel can immediately begin care if needed without any problems.

The study is published in the Dec. 21 issue of CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

More information

For more about home birth, visit the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1PgwIpN

How to Pack the Perfect Travel Makeup Bag

Photo: Getty Images

First off, start with a durable bag. Mine is made out of a water-resistant material that holds up against wet countertops and other spills—essential for sketchy airports or stadium bathrooms. The products inside have to be small and mighty to make the cut. I’m running from arenas to shoots all day, so I need stuff that lasts.

Concealer is an absolute must to disguise my tired eyes; Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer ($25; sephora.com) stays on without touch-ups. I try to keep my basics— eyeshadow, blush, liner—neutral, then just switch up my lipstick at night.

Frequent flier Megan Alexander is a correspondent for Inside Edition and CBS Thursday Night Football.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1QBS3gW

What Every 26- to 29-Year-Old Needs to Know About Their Skin

Photo: Getty Images

My 26th birthday recently came and went. And, obviously, I’m still young. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that as I age, so does my skin.

Science says that 30 is the age when our skin starts to dry out and become dull in color. Fine lines begin to form around our eyes and mouth, and collagen and elastin (my two favorite things) weaken. Since I’ll soon have to check a different box on every form I fill out, I chatted with Rachel Nazarian of Schweiger Dermatology Group about a few helpful tips, products, and vital ingredients to keep my face as plump as it was when I was 18 (when I cared more about sneaking out than skin care).

1. Retinoids

This always makes the list, and for good reason. Retinoids, like retinol, help stimulate new collagen production—helping restore the plump, youthful look to skin. It will ease fine lines, wrinkles, even darker sun spots, but it doesn’t happen overnight. Start as soon as you can, as tolerated, to reap the benefits. It makes getting older a little less painful.

2. Eye cream

This delicate area starts to show major wear around your late twenties and early thirties. Make sure you’re using a good eye cream to help minimize darkening, decrease puffiness, and help rejuvenate this sensitive skin. I like Lumiere by Neocuts and Cerave’s new eye cream.

3. Sunscreen

It’s better late than never, people. Get on this bandwagon if you’re not already. Despite what you’re thinking, it’s for year-round use, not just summertime. A minimum of SPF 30 will help protect you from daily radiation that causes cumulative damage and aging.

4. Hydrate

Inside and out. Water intake is incredibly important to keep skin healthy—water maintains the elasticity and plumpness that makes skin glow. Additionally, moisturizing is vastly overlooked. Every time you shower, the natural oils and moisturizers from the skin are stripped off, and ideally you should moisturize with a cream or lotion containing ceramides (such as Aveeno) to help maintain a healthy skin barrier.

6. Glycolic Acid and Salicyclic Acid (or any other topical peel)

Dead skin cells sit on the skin and dull it, aging the appearance and enhancing fine lines and pores. As we age, the natural cell-renewal process slows down. Using a topical peel regularly helps to exfoliate the skin gently, and removes light discolorations. Add it to your regimen!

7. Exercise

Research has shown that people who vigorously exercise (think hard, not long) a couple times a week actually showed improvement in fine lines, and obviously there are plenty of studies to show it is good for your overall health, too. Don’t worry about sitting at the gym all day long, even thirty minutes, three times a week will help.

8. Cut down on sugar (and wine)

High levels of sugar and wine in your diet will enhance inflammation of your skin and make conditions like rosacea worse. Limit yourself and replace those items with antioxidant rich foods that will improve your skin tone and redness—like omega-3 (salmon), pomegranate, and green tea.

9. Cut out harsh cleansers

Skin loses the ability to retain moisture as we age. Rather than using harsh foaming soaps to wash your face, switch to a hydrating cleanser like Cetaphil. Keep the water lukewarm (avoiding HOT water) to prevent excess irritating and stripping of natural oils.

This article originally appeared on MIMIchatter.com.

The Perfumes Khloe Kardashian Can’t Get Enough Of

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/22kAmpN

Study Suggests Link Between Gum Disease, Breast Cancer Risk

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Dec. 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Gum disease might increase the risk for breast cancer among postmenopausal women, particularly those who smoke, a new study suggests.

Women with gum disease appeared to have a 14 percent overall increased risk for breast cancer, compared to women without gum disease. And that increased risk seemed to jump to more than 30 percent if they also smoked or had smoked in the past 20 years, researchers said.

“These findings are useful in providing new insight into what causes breast cancer,” said lead author Jo Freudenheim, a professor of epidemiology at the University at Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions in New York.

“There is good evidence, though, that good dental care is important in any case and that treatment of periodontal disease is important for the health of the mouth,” she said.

But more study is needed before there is enough evidence to say that gum disease causes breast cancer or other diseases, Freudenheim said. This study did not prove a cause-and-effect link between the two, a point made by several experts not involved with the study.

A number of studies have found an association between gum disease and other chronic diseases, including stroke, heart attack and other cancers, Freudenheim said.

“There is much to learn about why we see these associations,” she said. “In particular, we don’t know yet if treating the gum disease would decrease risk of these other diseases.”

The report was published Dec. 21 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Dr. Ashish Sahasra, an orthodontist in Garden City, N.Y., said, “This is going to open a lot of people’s eyes to the potential link between gum disease and breast cancer.”

Periodontal disease can cause many health problems, he said. “Gum disease is very common, and sometimes it goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed and many people don’t pay attention to it, but it’s a serious disease that needs to be treated immediately,” he added.

For the study, Freudenheim and her colleagues collected data on nearly 74,000 postmenopausal women who took part in the Women’s Health Initiative study. None of the women had a history of breast cancer. After an average follow-up of almost seven years, more than 2,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer.

The researchers found that women who were smoking at the time of the study appeared to have a 32 percent higher risk for breast cancer if they had gum disease, but the association was not statistically significant, Freudenheim said, because there weren’t many current smokers among the women in the study. Among women who had quit smoking sometime within the past 20 years, those with gum disease seemed to have a 36 percent higher risk of breast cancer.

In addition, women who had never smoked but had gum disease seemed to have a 6 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer, and those who had quit more than 20 years before and had gum disease had an 8 percent higher risk, the study suggested.

Dr. Stephanie Bernik, chief of surgical oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said, “Although there is a possibility that there is a direct link between gum disease and an increased risk of breast cancer, this study does not prove a direct link.”

More study needs to be done to see if inflammatory factors such as gum disease contribute to the development of breast cancer, she said.

“Women with gum disease may lead lives that are less healthy overall, such as eating poorly, not exercising and drinking excessively,” Bernik explained.

Dr. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, said, “We have to be cautious about putting too much emphasis on this study, but look at it in the context of overall health.” Gum disease might be a sign of overall poor health and not the specific cause of breast cancer, he said.

More information

Visit the American Cancer Society for more on breast cancer.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1m3YufP

One-Third of Incurable Cancer Patients Continue to Work, Study Finds