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Geriatrics

News, opinions and meeting coverage in geriatrics.

Cold Feet? Aah-Choo!

CARDIFF, Wales - Mom had it right. You can catch your death of cold if you don't bundle up and keep your feet warm and dry. That's the conclusion of British researchers.

Short-Term Use of High-Dose Ibuprofen Linked to GI Bleeding

HAMILTON, Ontario - Taking high doses of Advil or Motrin (ibuprofen) even for a few days can significantly increase the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, researchers reported today.

Recurrent Yeast Infections Associated with Chronic Stress

STOCKHOLM - Women with recurrent yeast infections appear to have lower-than-normal morning levels of salivary cortisol, a sign of stress that could indicate an increased vulnerability to candida, according to a pilot study.

Botox Helps Patients Face Intractable Facial Pain

CURITIBA, Brazil - Everyone's favorite toxin appears to offer significant relief from intractable facial nerve pain.

Drugs That Lower Blood Pressure Also Prevent Headaches

LONDON - Four classes of drugs that lower blood pressure also prevent headaches, say researchers here who analyzed data from 94 randomized, placebo-controlled trials.

California Judge Rules Tattoo Inks Must Carry Health Warnings

LOS ANGELES - A California Superior Court judge, citing health risks of lead and arsenic in tattoo inks, has ordered two major tattoo-ink manufacturers to carry warning labels.

IBD Patients Prone to Other Autoimmune or Inflammatory Disorders

PHILADELPHIA-Patients with the inflammatory bowel disorders ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are significantly more likely to suffer from other conditions with an inflammatory or autoimmune basis, said researchers in two separate studies.

Medicare Will Pay for tPA in Stroke Thrombolysis

WASHINGTON-Medicare is about to announce that beginning in October it will start paying hospitals for use of the thrombolytic drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for treatment of ischemic stroke, according to published reports.

Suicide Risk Rises for Shorter Men

UPPSALA, Sweden-Shorter men have a twofold greater risk of suicide than taller men, according to a cohort study of more than a million men in this country.

Actor Brad Pitt Leaves Hospital After Treatment for Viral Meningitis

LOS ANGELES-Film star Brad Pitt, 41, is resting at home after a brief hospitalization for treatment of viral meningitis, according to his spokesperson. Although Pitt recently visited Ethiopia, where there has been a meningitis outbreak, it is considered unlikely that his illness is linked to the trip because Pitt's meningitis was viral, not the bacterial meningococcal meningitis rampant in East Africa.

Certain Exercise Proposed to Reduce Hip Fracture Risk in Elderly

CAMBRIDGE, England-If hip fractures in the elderly are caused by thinning of the femur that leads to bone buckling in a fall, as a team here contends, cycling, rowing or gymnastics might strengthen the femoral neck and reduce the fracture risk.

FDA Okays Single Dose Antibiotic for Pneumonia and Sinusitis

NEW YORK-The FDA has approved Zmax (azithromycin extended release) as a single-dose treatment for adults with pneumonia and certain types of acute mild-to-moderate bacterial sinusitis and pneumonia, Pfizer announced yesterday.

Bad News for Cox-2 Inhibitors Was Good News for Mobic

WASHINGTON-The departure of Vioxx (rofecoxib) from pharmacists' shelves last September triggered a boomlet for the NSAID Mobic (meloxicam), which then boosted its prices by 9%, according to a Consumers Union analysis.

Obesity Putting Pressure on the Knees

SALT LAKE CITY-Americans are buckling under their own weight insofar as their knees are concerned.

FDA Warns of Excess Mortality to Elderly With Antipsychotics

WASHINGTON-The FDA has issued a public health advisory on the entire class of atypical antipsychotic drugs, pointing to an apparent excess of mortality for older patients with dementia, particularly when the agents are used off-label to treat behavioral disorders.

Colonoscopy Patients Put at Infection Risk

MONROEVILLE, Pa.-About 200 patients who underwent colonoscopy at a Pittsburgh-area hospital were urged to undergo hepatitis and HIV testing because the colonoscopes were improperly disinfected.

Feeding By Tube Is Common with Tracheotomy

CLEVELAND-Patients who require a tracheotomy to help them breathe often have trouble swallowing, which cuts their caloric intake. The solution, say experts, is to supplement regular meals with feeding by a nasogastric tube, which is what doctors treating Pope John Paul II have decided to do.

A Child's Death Increases Parents' Risk of Mental Illness

LOS ANGELES-When a child dies, grieving parents have an increased risk of first diagnosis of serious mental illness such as clinical depression or bipolar disorder.

ACC: LDL Cholesterol of Less than 80 mg/dL Reduces Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

ORLANDO-Cardiologists report that aggressive cholesterol-lowering to new super low target levels of LDL is associated with a 22% reduction in risk of heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrest and death from heart disease for patients with stable coronary disease. The reduction to a mean of 77 mg/dL compared with standard cholesterol-lowering therapy that aims to reduce LDL to about 100 mg/dL. In addition, stroke risk was reduced by 25% compared with risk in patients treated to the recommended target of 100 mg/dL.

Licorice Compound May Fight Latent Herpes Infection

A compound found in licorice, glycyrrhizic acid (GA), induces apoptosis in cells latently infected with Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus and may one day form the basis of a treatment for latent herpes infection, according to a report in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

For How Long is the Hepatitis B Vaccine Effective?

A study of native Alaskans published in the Annals of Internal Medicine determined that vaccine-conferred immunity to hepatitis B virus persists on average about fifteen years after vaccination. The study has implications for determining effectiveness and duration of vaccine protection and possible need for booster shots.

St. John's Wort Better than SSRI for Moderate to Severe Depression

A study published in The British Medical Journal found that a herbal extract of St. John's wort was at least as effective as Paxil(R) (paroxetine) and had fewer side effects in patients with moderate to severe depression.

Reggie White's Death Linked to Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Preliminary reports suggest that the death on December 26th of a 43-year-old former National Football League star, Reggie White, was related to sleep apnea, a chronic condition associated with a number of lung and heart conditions.

Provigil (modafinil) Counteracts SSRI Side Effects

Provigil 脗庐 (modafinil) not only counteracted the excessive fatigue and somnolence experienced by some patients on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), but also improved mood and quality of life in this patient group, according to a preliminary study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.