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Moose Offer Trail of Clues on Arthritis
By PAM BELLUCK, The New York Times, August 16, 2010
In the 100 years since the first moose swam into Lake Superior and set up shop on an island, they have mostly minded their moosely business, munching balsam fir and trying to evade hungry gray wolves.
But now the moose of Isle Royale have something to say — well, their bones do. Many of the moose, it turns out, have arthritis. And scientists believe their condition’s origin can help explain human osteoarthritis — by far the most common type of arthritis, affecting one of every seven adults 25 and older and becoming increasingly prevalent.
The arthritic Bullwinkles got that way because of poor nutrition early in life, an extraordinary 50-year research project has discovered. That could mean, scientists say, that some people’s arthritis can be linked in part to nutritional deficits, in the womb and possibly throughout childhood.
( Read more... )
Vaccination Is Steady, but Pertussis Is Surging
By TARA PARKER-POPE, The New York Times, AUGUST 16, 2010
For four weeks, my 11-year-old daughter has been coughing. It is not your run-of-the-mill summer cold, but a violent, debilitating cough that takes over her body, usually at night.
During these fits, her face turns red, and tears start streaming from her eyes. She coughs so hard she eventually starts to gasp for air, making a horrifying sucking sound that at one point had me reaching for the phone to call 911. But eventually she catches her breath. Several times she has coughed so hard she begins to throw up.
It took a few visits to the pediatrician before she finally got a diagnosis: pertussis, the bacterial disease better known as whooping cough.
That may sound surprising, since like most other children she was vaccinated against the disease on schedule, as an infant and again in preschool. But in recent years, pertussis has made an alarming comeback — even among adolescents and adults who were vaccinated as children.
( Read more... )
Old Maxim of Fertility and Stress Is Reversed
By RONI CARYN RABIN, The New York Times, August 16, 2010
Even as more and more fertility clinics adopt stress-management programs like yoga, cognitive therapy and biofeedback, the role of stress in infertility remains a matter of debate. Some experts still recite an old maxim: while infertility undoubtedly causes stress, stress does not cause infertility.
Now researchers suggest that the two conditions may indeed be linked.
In a study published online in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the scientists reported that women who stopped using contraceptives took longer to become pregnant if they had high saliva levels of the enzyme alpha-amylase — a biological indicator of stress.
( Read more... )
Steep Drop Seen in Circumcisions in U.S.
By RONI CARYN RABIN, The New York Times, August 16, 2010
Despite a worldwide campaign for circumcision to slow the spread of AIDS, the rate of circumcision among American baby boys appears to be declining.
A little-noted presentation by a federal health researcher last month at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna suggested that the rate had fallen precipitously — to fewer than half of all boys born in conventional hospitals from 2006 to 2009, from about two-thirds through the 1980s and ’90s.
Last week, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautioned that the figures in the presentation were not definitive. But they are already stirring a sharp debate on the Internet.
The numbers were presented to the AIDS conference by a C.D.C. researcher, Charbel E. El Bcheraoui. The presentation was not covered by any mainstream news outlets, but a report by the news service Elsevier Global Medical News, along with a photograph of a slide from the presentation, quickly made the rounds of the blogosphere.
The slide portrays a precipitous drop in circumcision, to just 32.5 percent in 2009 from 56 percent in 2006. The numbers are based on calculations by SDI Health, a company in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., that analyzes health care data; they do not include procedures outside hospitals (like most Jewish ritual circumcisions) or not reimbursed by insurance.
( Read more... )
By PAM BELLUCK, The New York Times, August 16, 2010
In the 100 years since the first moose swam into Lake Superior and set up shop on an island, they have mostly minded their moosely business, munching balsam fir and trying to evade hungry gray wolves.
But now the moose of Isle Royale have something to say — well, their bones do. Many of the moose, it turns out, have arthritis. And scientists believe their condition’s origin can help explain human osteoarthritis — by far the most common type of arthritis, affecting one of every seven adults 25 and older and becoming increasingly prevalent.
The arthritic Bullwinkles got that way because of poor nutrition early in life, an extraordinary 50-year research project has discovered. That could mean, scientists say, that some people’s arthritis can be linked in part to nutritional deficits, in the womb and possibly throughout childhood.
( Read more... )
Vaccination Is Steady, but Pertussis Is Surging
By TARA PARKER-POPE, The New York Times, AUGUST 16, 2010
For four weeks, my 11-year-old daughter has been coughing. It is not your run-of-the-mill summer cold, but a violent, debilitating cough that takes over her body, usually at night.
During these fits, her face turns red, and tears start streaming from her eyes. She coughs so hard she eventually starts to gasp for air, making a horrifying sucking sound that at one point had me reaching for the phone to call 911. But eventually she catches her breath. Several times she has coughed so hard she begins to throw up.
It took a few visits to the pediatrician before she finally got a diagnosis: pertussis, the bacterial disease better known as whooping cough.
That may sound surprising, since like most other children she was vaccinated against the disease on schedule, as an infant and again in preschool. But in recent years, pertussis has made an alarming comeback — even among adolescents and adults who were vaccinated as children.
( Read more... )
Old Maxim of Fertility and Stress Is Reversed
By RONI CARYN RABIN, The New York Times, August 16, 2010
Even as more and more fertility clinics adopt stress-management programs like yoga, cognitive therapy and biofeedback, the role of stress in infertility remains a matter of debate. Some experts still recite an old maxim: while infertility undoubtedly causes stress, stress does not cause infertility.
Now researchers suggest that the two conditions may indeed be linked.
In a study published online in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the scientists reported that women who stopped using contraceptives took longer to become pregnant if they had high saliva levels of the enzyme alpha-amylase — a biological indicator of stress.
( Read more... )
Steep Drop Seen in Circumcisions in U.S.
By RONI CARYN RABIN, The New York Times, August 16, 2010
Despite a worldwide campaign for circumcision to slow the spread of AIDS, the rate of circumcision among American baby boys appears to be declining.
A little-noted presentation by a federal health researcher last month at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna suggested that the rate had fallen precipitously — to fewer than half of all boys born in conventional hospitals from 2006 to 2009, from about two-thirds through the 1980s and ’90s.
Last week, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautioned that the figures in the presentation were not definitive. But they are already stirring a sharp debate on the Internet.
The numbers were presented to the AIDS conference by a C.D.C. researcher, Charbel E. El Bcheraoui. The presentation was not covered by any mainstream news outlets, but a report by the news service Elsevier Global Medical News, along with a photograph of a slide from the presentation, quickly made the rounds of the blogosphere.
The slide portrays a precipitous drop in circumcision, to just 32.5 percent in 2009 from 56 percent in 2006. The numbers are based on calculations by SDI Health, a company in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., that analyzes health care data; they do not include procedures outside hospitals (like most Jewish ritual circumcisions) or not reimbursed by insurance.
( Read more... )
