‘Hard’ Tap Water Linked to Eczema in Babies

WEDNESDAY, June 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — “Hard,” mineral-laden water may increase the risk of a baby getting the skin condition eczema, a new British study suggests.

Eczema is a chronic condition marked by itchiness and rashes. The study included 1,300 3-month old infants from across the United Kingdom. Researchers checked hardness — the water’s mineral content — and chlorine levels in the water supply where the babies lived.

Babies who lived in areas with hard water were up to 87 percent more likely to have eczema, the study found.

“Our study builds on growing evidence of a link between exposure to hard water and the risk of developing eczema in childhood,” said lead author Dr. Carsten Flohr, from the Institute of Dermatology at King’s College London.

The study wasn’t designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship, so further research is needed to learn more about this apparent link, Flohr added.

“We are about to launch a feasibility trial to assess whether installing a water softener in the homes of high-risk children around the time of birth may reduce the risk of eczema and whether reducing chlorine levels brings any additional benefits,” Flohr said in a college news release.

Previous studies have found an association between water hardness and eczema risk in schoolchildren. This is the first study to examine the link in infants, the researchers said.

The study was published recently in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on eczema.

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The Many Ways Stress Can Affect Your Skin

Last week Anne Hathaway was apparently so stressed out by an upcoming appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she broke out in hives. “Proof that nerves are real,” she posted with a photo of the angry rash on Instagram.

And a few days ago actress Kirsten Storms announced she was taking a leave from her role as “Maxie” on daytime’s General Hospital due to skin issues linked to stress.

http://pic.twitter.com/aEOttx1fGH

— Kirsten Storms (@teenystweeting) May 29, 2016

With so many celebrities succumbing to stress-related skin problems, we started to wonder which skin conditions are aggravated by stress.

The answer, it turns out, is pretty much all of them.

“Any skin condition can be made worse from stress,” says Natalie Semchyshyn, MD, a cosmetic dermatologist and assistant professor of dermatology at Saint Louis University. “Stress, especially chronic stress, changes levels of certain hormones in your body, like cortisol, which can affect your immune system.”

And that can wreck havoc with your skin.

Hives, like those proudly displayed on Anne Hathaway’s chest, can happen to anyone, even if you’re not prone to skin problems.

“One of the major jobs of our skin is to block things out that we don’t want to come in. It’s the protective wrapper of the body,” explains Dr. Semchyshyn.

RELATED: 25 Surprising Ways Stress Affects Your Health

Stress dampens the immune system so that your skin is no longer as effective at keeping out intruders. Bad things creep in, your immune system reacts and, voila, you’ve got hives.

Acne is probably the most well-known example of a skin condition exacerbated by stress: Think of a teen who has a terrible acne flare right before final exams. If the acne gets infected because of a weakened immune system, the problem can get even worse.

Rosacea is another skin condition closely related to your mental state: Flushing, swelling, and uneven skin are hallmarks of rosacea. “One of the triggers [of flushing] is stress, if you feel embarrassed, or even good stress like working really hard on something,” says Dr. Semchyshyn. “It’s a visible response to stress going on inside your body.”

Psychological stress can also trigger a psoriasis flare-up—red, scaly patches of skin that are itchy and sometimes painful—as well as an eczema flare (an itchy rash).

RELATED: 21 Tips and Tricks for Treating Psoriasis

The silver lining in the skin-stress connection? Managing your stress can often provide the solution, or part of the solution, says Dr. Semchyshyn. She points to a growing body of research that suggests stress-relief techniques—including hypnosis, guided-imagery meditation, and mindfulness meditation—may also help calm your complexion.

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Program Cut Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — If you find yourself hospitalized, you’ve got a one in five chance of needing a urinary catheter — raising your risk for a urinary tract infection.

Now, researchers report that a new program shows it might be possible to reduce both catheter use and its associated infections.

“Catheter-associated urinary tract infections are common and costly patient safety problems,” said lead researcher Dr. Sanjay Saint. He is a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Roughly 250,000 such infections occur in hospitals each year in the United States, costing about $250 million, the researchers pointed out.

Although about 20 percent of hospitalized patients get a urinary catheter, one-third of the time they aren’t needed, Saint said. He believes that patients can play a role in reducing catheter use.

“A lot of patients and families don’t realize that there are problems with a urinary catheter, so they may request them because they think it will allow patients to stay in bed,” Saint said.

“Unfortunately, there are side effects with a catheter. And I’ve seen patients who have gotten up in the middle of the night and they trip and fall on the tubing,” he explained.

“Patients and families should request that a catheter not be put in, and if there is one there, the patient should ask every day whether it is still needed,” Saint suggested.

For the study, Saint and his colleagues tried the new program in 600 hospitals.

After 18 months of using the program, infection rates among hospital patients in general wards dropped by one-third, while catheter use had dropped about 1 percent.

But there was no drop in infections or catheter use in intensive care units (ICUs), the study findings showed.

Hospital-acquired urinary tract infection rates rose nationwide during the same time period, Saint noted.

The program Saint helped develop — called the “bladder bundle” — includes protocols, checklists, training and information-sharing that help doctors and nurses reduce catheter use and prevent infections.

Included in the program are:

• Daily checks to see if a catheter is still needed.
• Using other options to collect urine, such as bedpans.
• Training for managing urinary catheters.
• Use of infection-control techniques for catheter placement and maintenance.
• Feedback to the medical team about catheter use and infection rates.

The researchers found that catheter infection rates in the new program dropped 14 percent overall in general wards (non-ICU).

The findings were published June 2 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Susan Huang, a professor of infectious disease at the University of California, Irvine, wrote an editorial accompanying the study. She said, “While we’ve known the correct care processes for managing urinary catheters, we haven’t been able to reliably reduce catheter-related infections.”

An intervention that focuses on changing the culture in hospitals to make them more responsive to the problem of infection control — one that involves “rallying around a focused problem and ensuring team-based solutions — is integral to improving infection control in hospitals,” she said.

As for improving infection control in intensive care units, Huang said, “further analysis may help us understand why this intervention didn’t work.”

“This program can reduce urinary infections in hospitals if a team is assembled to ensure adoption of best practices and to rapidly correct reasons for failing to comply with these processes,” she added.

More information

Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on urinary tract infections.

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Brain Cancer Treatment Shows Promise in Early Trial

WEDNESDAY, June 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — An experimental viral treatment may extend the lives of patients with a hard-to-treat brain cancer, researchers say.

For the phase 1 study, patients with recurrent glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive brain tumor, were injected with an engineered virus.

Survival was 13.6 months among 43 patients treated with the viral therapy, compared with 7.1 months for patients who did not receive the new therapy, according to the study.

“For the first time, this clinical data shows that this treatment, used in combination with an antifungal drug, kills cancer cells and appears to activate the immune system against them while sparing healthy cells,” said study co-leader Dr. Timothy Cloughesy. He is director of the neuro-oncology program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“This approach also has potential in additional types of the disease, such as metastatic colorectal and breast cancers,” Cloughesy said in a university news release.

Cloughesy is also a consultant for Tocagen, the biopharmaceutical company that developed the therapy and funded most of the study.

Some patients who received the experimental treatment lived more than two years with few side effects, the researchers reported.

“Brain cancer is a deadly disease, and when it returns there are extremely few treatment options, and survival is usually measured in months,” said study co-lead author Dr. Michael Vogelbaum, associate director of the brain tumor neuro-oncology center at the Cleveland Clinic.

Here’s how the treatment works: Injectable Toca 511 infects actively dividing cancer cells and delivers a gene for an enzyme called cytosine deaminase to the cancer cells. Inside the tumor, Toca 511 programs the cancer cells to make cytosine deaminase to set them up for the second step of the treatment.

In that next phase, the patient takes the antifungal drug Toca FC. The genetic changes triggered by Toca 511 cause the cancer cells to convert Toca FC into the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).

This leads to the targeted death of infected cancer cells and cells that help tumors hide from the immune system, while leaving healthy cells unharmed, the researchers explained.

These are the first published clinical trial results of this new type of modified virus known as a retroviral replicating vector (RRV), according to the news release.

The purpose of a phase 1 study is to assess safety and tolerability. Three phases are usually required for a medication to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.

“The collective results from this virus study, include encouraging survival and excellent safety data, support the ongoing randomized phase 2/3 trial called Toca 5, and offer hope for a new treatment option for patients with brain cancer,” Vogelbaum said.

The study results were published June 1 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about brain tumors.

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Severe Obesity May Boost Infection Risk After Heart Surgery

WEDNESDAY, June 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Severely obese people may have a higher risk of certain complications after heart bypass surgery than normal-weight patients, a new study suggests.

The researchers found that severe obesity was linked to much higher odds of developing an infection soon after heart bypass surgery. And severely obese patients were also more likely to have longer hospital stays than normal-weight patients.

For the study, the investigators reviewed data from more than 7,500 Canadians who had coronary artery bypass surgery between 2003 and 2014. This surgery redirects blood flow to the heart around clogged arteries.

People with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more were considered severely obese. BMI is a rough estimate of a person’s body fat based on height and weight. A BMI between 35 and 39.9 is considered severe obesity, while 30 to 34.9 is obesity. A normal BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, the study authors said.

For perspective, a normal weight for a 5 foot 4 inch woman ranges from 110 to 145 pounds. That same woman would be considered overweight at 146 to 174 pounds. Obesity would be defined as any weight over 174, but severe obesity would begin at about 233 pounds, the researchers explained.

Severely obese patients had triple the risk of infection after bypass surgery compared to people of normal weight. The severely obese also spent a median of one day more in the hospital. And among severely obese patients, those with diabetes who developed an infection had hospital stays that were more than three times longer than for patients without either health condition, the study findings showed.

In addition, severely obese patients were 56 percent more likely to have complications within a month of surgery. The risk of complications was 35 percent higher among moderately obese patients, the study authors said.

The study was published June 1 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“Based on the results of this study, it appears that addressing infection risk might be an effective strategy to decrease the length-of-stay for patients with obesity who undergo coronary artery bypass surgery,” senior study author Mary Forhan said in a journal news release. She is an assistant professor in the department of occupational therapy, faculty of rehabilitation medicine at University of Alberta in Edmonton.

It’s not clear why severely obese patients are more likely to develop infections, the study authors noted. And the study didn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

“We need further study that includes ways of preventing infection using evidence-based methods, and determining if such methods meet the needs of coronary artery bypass patients with moderate to severe obesity,” Forhan said.

Each year, nearly 400,000 people in the United States undergo coronary artery bypass. About seven in 10 adults aged 20 or older are overweight or obese, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

More information

The American Heart Association has more on coronary artery bypass surgery.

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Exploring the Link Between Estrogen and Migraines

WEDNESDAY, June 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Researchers are getting a better understanding of the link between estrogen levels and migraine headaches in women.

A new study finds that for women who get these intense headaches, levels of the hormone estrogen drop more rapidly in the days before menstruation than in women without the headaches.

“These results suggest that a ‘two-hit’ process may link estrogen withdrawal to menstrual migraine,” said study author Dr. Jelena Pavlovic, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. “More rapid estrogen decline may make women vulnerable to common triggers for migraine attacks such as stress, lack of sleep, foods and wine.”

Researchers looked at urine samples of 114 women with migraines and 223 women without migraines, average age 47. Estrogen levels among those with migraines dropped 40 percent in the days just before menstruation, compared to 30 percent for those without migraines, the study found.

No similar patterns were seen with other types of hormones, according to the study.

The results were published online June 1 in the journal Neurology.

“Future studies should focus on the relationship between headaches and daily hormone changes and explore the possible underpinnings of these results,” Pavlovic added in a journal news release.

About 12 percent of Americans get migraines, and they’re three times more common in women than men, according to the American Migraine Foundation. Besides headaches, migraine attacks can include nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to lights, sound and smells.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about migraine.

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How Amy Schumer Is Like a Greek Goddess

Photo: Getty Images

When we think of powerful female role models, Amy Schumer is high up on the list of celebs that come to mind. After she’s been repeatedly shamed for her size, Schumer continues to come out on top by clapping back at condescending salespeople, calling out trolls, and even a major magazine for labeling her “plus size.”

Now one fan’s viral Instagram post is helping spread the comedian’s call for body acceptance.

Earlier this week a college student posted a photo of a statue of Aphrodite alongside Schumer’s topless portrait from the 2016 Pirelli calendar, and pointed out the “wonderful resemblance between two beautiful women.”

“So many women and young girls are shamed by the media and fashion industry for not having a flat stomach and not being a size zero,” @whitneyzombie wrote in the caption. “But look, the goddess of beauty is portrayed here with stomach rolls and doesn’t have a perfectly smooth, toned body.”

RELATED: Anna Victoria Shows Even Fitness Models Have Stomach Rolls

She goes on to encourage women to embrace their unique shape: “I want to remind everyone that they do not have to be a Victoria’s Secret model to be a beautiful goddess with a beautiful body.”

Schumer shared @whitneyzombie’s sentiment with the caption, “So cool!”

We couldn’t agree more. With this clever juxtaposition, @whitneyzombie managed to convey a message louder than the trolls: There’s no such thing as universal beauty.

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More Americans Engaging in Same-Sex Encounters

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — The number of Americans who say they’ve had sexual activity with someone of the same gender has doubled since the 1970s, a new survey reveals.

And, during the past 40 years, the number of Americans who say they have no problem with same-sex sexual activity has more than quadrupled, the survey showed.

“This data showed strikingly how quickly opinions on same-sex sexuality changed,” said study lead author Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University.

The trend, she added, “suggests a fundamental shift in sexual behavior toward more freedom and the abandonment of previously strict social rules against same-sex sexuality.”

The findings come from the National Opinion Research Center’s General Social Survey, spanning 1973 to 2014. Participants were between 18 and 96 years old.

More than 34,000 men and women answered questions about their attitudes on same-sex sexual relations. And, 28,000 shared details about their own sexual experiences, according to the survey.

In 1973, acceptance of same-sex sexual relations was just over 10 percent. By 2014, almost 50 percent said they were OK with same-sex sexual activity. The biggest jumps in acceptance occurred after 1990, the survey found.

The trend toward acceptance was even more dramatic among younger Americans. In 1990, only 15 percent of people aged 18 to 29 said same-sex relations were “not wrong at all.” By 2014, 63 percent of that age group had no issue with same-sex relations, the findings showed.

What’s more, about 8 percent of men and 9 percent of women now say they’ve had at least one same-sex sexual experience. That’s up from just 4.5 percent of men and 4 percent of women back in 1973.

The results likely indicate that “more same-sex sexual activity truly is occurring than in previous decades,” Twenge said.

“However, we cannot rule out the explanation that people are more willing to admit to such activity,” she added. “But, even if so, that would still suggest a cultural shift, though in willingness to admit to same-sex behavior rather than the behavior itself.”

Twenge said that shift in attitudes should be seen as part of a larger ongoing cultural shift. Strict adherence to social norms is gradually giving way to a less restrictive embrace of individual freedoms and expression.

“The fundamental cultural shift toward individualism is more likely to be the cause of the shift (on same sex issues) than any one event or even a few events,” she said. “Especially given that the changes happened over several decades rather than happening all at once in a year or two.”

Psychiatrist Dr. Jack Drescher said the survey findings “are not entirely surprising.” He’s a clinical professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y.

“It was in the 1990s that the U.S. began its first open national policy discussions about homosexuality, centered around the issues of gays in the military and marriage equality,” he said. “It was inevitable that open discussions would reveal many of the irrational prejudices about homosexuality that were normally spoken in private.”

And, Drescher added, “with increasing conversation came increasing acceptance.”

But Ilan Meyer noted that the survey trends show that “homosexuality is still stigmatized by a large proportion of Americans.” The survey showed roughly half of Americans said they don’t accept same-sex relations.

Meyer is a senior scholar for public policy at the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law in Los Angeles.

He also said the changing trends don’t reflect an actual jump in the number of people who identify as gay or lesbian.

Most of the increase in same-sex experience seemed to involve bisexual interactions with both male and female partners, Meyer said. And even that activity, he added, may be chalked up to an experimental phase of youth, rather than as a predictor of life-long exclusive same-sex relations.

Still, Meyer said the findings were “remarkable” and “real.” He suggested they are, at least in part, reflective of a growing liberalization of attitudes and shifts in the cultural status quo.

The study was published online June 1 in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

More information

There’s more on global attitudes towards same-sex relations at the Pew Research Center.

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ADHD Meds May Pose Heart Risks for Some Kids

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Ritalin, a popular drug for treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), might increase the risk of an abnormal heart rhythm shortly after a young person starts taking it, a new study suggests.

Children and teens who were prescribed methylphenidate — sold under the brand names Ritalin, Daytrana and Concerta — had a 61 percent increased risk of arrhythmias during the first two months of use, according to the analysis of South Korean patients.

But most children on the medication should not experience heart problems, stressed senior study author Nicole Pratt, a senior research fellow at the Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Center at the University of South Australia.

“In the average child, the risk of serious cardiovascular events is extremely small [three per 100,000 per year], and any absolute excess risk associated with methylphenidate is also likely to be small,” Pratt said.

Also, the study did not prove that the medication causes an irregular heartbeat.

However, doctors should take these findings into account when putting a child on methylphenidate, Pratt added.

Kids with existing congenital heart disease are most affected by the drug, with a more than threefold increased risk of heart rhythm problems, the study found.

“Children on these medicines should have [their] blood pressure and heart rate monitored to help mitigate potential risk,” Pratt said. “Health professionals also need to consider the risk/benefit balance in children with prior history of heart disease or children on medicines that can affect [heart rhythm], particularly where symptoms of ADHD are mild.”

Ritalin stimulates the central nervous system, the researchers said in background notes.

Concerns have been raised that stimulants like methylphenidate can affect heart health, the study authors said.

And other stimulants have been shown to affect heart rate and heart rhythm, said Dr. Kabir Bhasin, director of clinical education for cardiac electrophysiology at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City .

“We tell cardiac patients to avoid things like caffeine,” Bhasin said. “Clearly, methylphenidate is a stronger stimulant than caffeine, but it’s the same guiding principle.”

Two previous large-scale U.S. studies have shown “very subtle signals that these drugs may have some degree of cardiovascular toxicity,” Bhasin added.

The study findings were published May 31 in the BMJ.

About half of U.S. children diagnosed with ADHD in 2011 — some 3.5 million kids — received a stimulant drug (typically methylphenidate) for treatment, Harvard epidemiologist John Jackson wrote in an accompanying editorial in the journal.

Pratt and her colleagues examined the possible harmful effects of methylphenidate using South Korea National Health Insurance Database data regarding more than 114,600 kids aged 17 or younger who were recently prescribed the ADHD drug.

Among those children, 1,224 cardiac events had occurred between 2008 and 2011 — heart rhythm problems, high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke and heart failure.

They found that children were most vulnerable within their first two months on methylphenidate.

The risk was highest within the first three days of treatment, about doubled compared to periods when the kids weren’t taking methylphenidate.

The researchers found no significant increased risk of heart attack in these kids, and no increased risk at all for high blood pressure, stroke or heart failure.

“I’ve always said to parents that you have to weigh the pros and cons, based on the severity of their disease,” Bhasin said. “If someone has very severe ADHD and this is really the only treatment option, you have to take that into account. But we’ve known for a while that this drug is not as effective as initially thought, so whenever possible I always tell them to reserve it as a last option.”

Despite the findings, Pratt said parents should not just take their children off this drug. Doctors gradually wean patients off methylphenidate, since suddenly discontinuing its use can cause a severe depression, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

“Parents should not stop the medicine, but discuss this study and their concerns with their doctor or pediatrician,” Pratt said. “Children should be closely monitored for any signs or symptoms of cardiac effects.”

More information

Visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health for more on ADHD medications.

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Genes Might Help Shield Some Black Men From Obesity

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Though the obesity epidemic affects people of all backgrounds, experts have long noted that black women face a notably higher risk of being overweight or obese than black men.

Now, a new study has identified genetic factors in black men with a strong West African ancestry that are associated with a lower risk of belly fat. But this apparent benefit doesn’t extend to black women, regardless of their lineage.

“This finding is not entirely novel,” said study lead author Yann Klimentidis, an assistant professor with the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Arizona.

“There is some previously existing evidence that individuals of West African descent tend to have lower levels of visceral, or belly, fat,” he said.

“However, our finding is novel in showing that this protective effect appears to be limited to men,” Klimentidis added, “and thus potentially explaining why there is such a large gender disparity in obesity rates among African-Americans.”

More than eight in 10 black American women are either overweight or obese, a U.S. survey found. About three-quarters of Hispanic women are overweight or obese. And, 65 percent of white women face similar weight concerns, the survey showed.

Slightly less than 70 percent of black men in the United States are either overweight or obese, the survey noted. In white men, that figure is 73 percent. And about 78 percent of Hispanic men are overweight or obese, the survey said.

Being overweight or obese is a known risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, the American Diabetes Association says. Black American women are more likely to have type 2 diabetes than white American women. But type 2 diabetes is more prevalent among white American men than black American men, the study authors said.

The researchers wanted to learn if genetics might explain these differences. So, the study team looked at genetic data collected by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Samples were collected from nearly 4,500 black men and women. The study volunteers were between 45 and 85 years old.

The researchers looked for evidence of West African or European ancestry.

The study also included hip and waist measurements, a standard way to assess excess belly fat. The researchers compared genetic factors to these measurements.

Although the investigators found that black men with a “high degree” of West African ancestry were less likely to carry excess belly fat, it’s not clear which specific genes might offer black men some obesity protection. It’s also not clear how such a genetic background might interact with lifestyle habits, such as diet and exercise, to lessen obesity risk. Or, when those genetic factors are missing, how lifestyle might boost obesity risk.

“There are many different risk factors for obesity,” stressed Klimentidis, “so it’s difficult to say what percentage of men benefit. But in general, our findings suggest that men with greater West African ancestry are those most likely to be protected from obesity or belly fat.

“We still need to identify the specific genes that protect African-American men,” Klimentidis added, “and also better understand why women do not benefit in the same way.”

The study was published June 1 in Frontiers in Genetics.

Ruth Loos, an expert on the genetics of obesity, called the new findings “intriguing,” but unsurprising.

“People’s genetic ancestry — such as African, European, Asian — determines, in part, what they look like. It also contributes to some populations’ increased risk of developing certain diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, it’s not unlikely that people’s ancestry will also make them more susceptible to weight gain,” said Loos, who wasn’t part of the study. She’s the director of the Genetics of Obesity and Related Metabolic Traits Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City.

Still, Loos said that future research will need to reconfirm the findings. New research should also attempt to figure out why certain genes end up keeping weight down among black men but not black women, she added.

More information

There’s more information on racial disparities and obesity at The State of Obesity Report.

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